The phrase "a soft touchdown" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts related to sports, particularly in American football, to describe a touchdown that is achieved with ease or without much struggle.
Example: "The quarterback executed a perfect play, resulting in a soft touchdown that left the defense scrambling."
Alternatives: "an easy touchdown" or "a gentle touchdown".
The successful test of a soft touchdown demonstrates a capability that could cut the cost of space launches significantly.
Assuming a soft touchdown at 06.31 BST on Monday, surely some of the secrets of the red planet will be revealed during the Curiosity rover's 687 (Earth) day wander.
The mission was the first successful test of a new capability for the first stage of the Falcon 9: the ability to descend to a soft touchdown after delivering its payload to orbit.
It will be the first to make a soft touchdown on the Moon since an unmanned Russian mission in 1976.
Never before in the history of space exploration has a soft touchdown been made on one of these "ice mountains".
The Israeli spacecraft - called Beresheet - attempted a soft touchdown, but suffered technical problems on its descent to the lunar surface.
occurred on April 18 , 2014 and became the first successful controlled ocean soft touchdown of a liquid-rocket-engine orbital booster.
As chief designer for the China National Space Administration's (CNSA's) Chang'e lunar exploration program, Wu Weiren oversaw the Chang'e-3 mission that in late 2013 landed and released a rover on the moon's surface the first soft touchdown on Earth's satellite since a Soviet mission in 1976.
The S-iEPS (Scalable-ion Electrospray Propulsion System) has been considered as propulsion system, while a potential landing system has been proposed to achieve the soft touchdown of the 2U CubeSat.
Astrobotic is one of the three companies NASA has partnered with through the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST) program to advance robotic lunar landing capabilities.
Astrobotic is one of the three companies NASA has partnered with through the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST) program to advance robotic lunar landing capabilities.
