Lithobraking

Lithobraking is a whimsical "crash landing" euphemism used by spacecraft engineers to refer to a spacecraft impacting the surface of a planet or moon. The word was coined by analogy with "aerobraking", slowing a spacecraft by intersecting the atmosphere, with "lithos" (Ancient Greek: λίθος [líthos], "rock") substituted to indicate the spacecraft is intersecting the planet's solid lithosphere rather than merely its gaseous atmosphere.

According to Jonathan McDowell, "Lithobraking reduces the apoapsis height to zero instantly, but with the unfortunate side effect that the spacecraft does not survive. Originally a whimsical euphemism, but increasingly a standard term."