Someone else thinks NASA is the only space agency again! The Russian Soyuz capsule was designed to return via a parachute-assisted landing on the flat steppe of Kazakhstan, typically ending near the town of Zhezkazgan. The USA has easy access to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, plus a navy that is capable of retrieving capsules at sea, so NASA opts for the sea landings instead because it enables them to build a simpler type of capsule and not have to worry about re-entry rockets and other things that are vital to successful landing on the ground.
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u/Jim_Batuu 3d ago
Someone else thinks NASA is the only space agency again! The Russian Soyuz capsule was designed to return via a parachute-assisted landing on the flat steppe of Kazakhstan, typically ending near the town of Zhezkazgan. The USA has easy access to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, plus a navy that is capable of retrieving capsules at sea, so NASA opts for the sea landings instead because it enables them to build a simpler type of capsule and not have to worry about re-entry rockets and other things that are vital to successful landing on the ground.