Sentence:  When the Philae lander, released by the comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft, first tried to touch down on Nov. 12 in an area later named Agilkia, it could not <WSD>stick the landing</WSD>. The anchoring harpoons and retro-rockets did not work and the lander bounced off the comet. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To execute a flawless landing (of an aircraft, rocket, or space capsule).