The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 10 letter word SPLASHDOWN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
S
P
L
A
S
H
D
O
W
N
More clues leading to the result SPLASHDOWN
- Climbing mountains with quiet descent on landing
- A drop in the ocean
- Dash along landing
- Lot of publicity before unhappy oceanic homecoming
- Big news story — sad end of space flight
- Mountains around indicated — avoid finally in that landing
- End of many a space mission making front-page news on descent
- End of descent after climbing Mont Blanc et al proven to arrest onset of dementia
- Front-page lead story on county’s a drop in the ocean
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "end of space flight" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case end of space flight = splashdown.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does SPLASHDOWN mean?
SPLASHDOWN noun- The act of landing in water, as by a space capsule or rollercoaster.