India, April 11 --  Even with reusable rockets, autonomous docking and decades of spaceflight experience, NASA still sends its astronaut capsules splashing into the ocean. The Artemis II mission will end Friday with a water landing off the coast of San Diego. The reason is simple: water is forgiving. A capsule reentering Earth's atmosphere endures extreme heat and intense pressure. Hitting water absorbs much of that landing force, especially for blunt-bodied spacecraft like Orion that descend under parachutes rather than gliding like an airplane.

Landing on solid ground requires retro-rockets or wheels. Splashing down requires only a broad ocean and a waiting Navy ship.

Artemis II Splashdown: Why Not Just Land on a Runway?

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