It's a harsh landing option, but I agree with the NASA guys that it's really not much of a story. As far as I recall, all early spacecraft that sent the first people (and dogs etc.) to space had no other option except these ballistic re-entries, and they did quite well. The Russians thought their Vostok capsules did so well at landing that they even deleted the original ejection seat that was used at the final stage of the landing and let cosmonauts touch down inside the capsule, which it was originally not even designed for.
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There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers.
-Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)
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