soft-land

English

Alternative forms

Verb

soft-land (third-person singular simple present soft-lands, present participle soft-landing, simple past and past participle soft-landed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, astronautics, aviation) To land (a vehicle or other payload) on the surface of a body in such a manner that it survives the landing mostly or entirely intact and is usable or able to operate, at least briefly, following touchdown.
    Coordinate term: hard-land
    The Spirit and Opportunity rovers were soft-landed on Mars in 2004.
    The crate of supplies soft-landed in the drop zone under its parachute, allowing the soldiers to replenish their food and ammo for the next few days of fighting.
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