splash down
Capsule meets ocean
Splash down describes a spacecraft landing in water, the standard recovery method for early space capsules: The astronauts splashed down in the Pacific.
The noun splashdown refers to the event itself: We watched the splashdown on television.
The term captures both the impact and the spray of water on contact.
Enclosed dose container
- reentryComing back in
- recoveryRegaining what was lost
- parachutesDescent-slowing fabric devices
- spacecraftVehicle for outer space
astronauts · descent · NASA · Apollo · Soyuz · touchdown · ocean · sea
Sudden steep descent
- diveHeadfirst water entry
- submergePlunge beneath liquid
- sprayDispersed liquid droplets
- spatterScatter in droplets
ripple · wave · droplet · splashback · cannonball · belly flop · pool · lake
capsule
Enclosed dose container
- reentryComing back in
- recoveryRegaining what was lost
- parachutesDescent-slowing fabric devices
spacecraft · astronauts · descent · NASA · Apollo · Soyuz · touchdown · ocean · sea · module
plunge
Sudden steep descent
spatter · ripple · wave · droplet · splashback · cannonball · belly flop · pool · lake · pond
- water motionpour, flow, trickle, gush, cascade
- seaplane flyingfloatplane, water landing, pontoons, hull, docking
- water rocketslauncher, fins, nose cone, pump, pressure chamber
splash downtouch down
Make contact with ground
land · runway landing · touchdown · make landfall · hard landing