lander
Sign in to savespacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “lander” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.