Splashdown
In the context of aerospace engineering, 'Splashdown' refers to the landing of a spacecraft in a body of water, typically the ocean. This method of landing was predominantly used during the era of manned space missions, particularly by the United States' NASA during the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury programs. The spacecraft, upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, would deploy parachutes to slow its descent, ultimately landing in the ocean where it would be retrieved by a recovery ship. The splashdown method was considered safer and more controllable than land-based recoveries. It also allowed for a global range of landing sites. The engineering behind a successful splashdown involves precise calculations and systems to control the re-entry trajectory, the deployment of parachutes, and the impact attenuation to protect the astronauts and the spacecraft from the force of the splashdown. The last American splashdown occurred in 1975, and since then, land-based recoveries have become more common.
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