splashdown

Deverbal from splash down.

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splashdown (countable and uncountable, plural splashdowns)

1. The act of landing in water, as by a space capsule or rollercoaster.
   • 2026 April 10, Amina Khan, “WATCH LIVE: Artemis II astronauts have splashed down on Earth”, in National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio:

     To get back to Earth, the space capsule had to withstand predicted temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit and slow down from nearly 25,000 miles per hour — or more than 30 times the speed of sound — to a gentle 19 mph or so before splashdown.

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