But the landing needs active thrusters to soften the blow. This introduces more complexity and also adds more danger as there needs to be extra fuel on board.
Correct. It’s not that they can’t, they save tens of millions by landing in the water on fuel alone. Not only to land but to leave. The extra fuel increases the weight which increases the overall fuel cost on launch.
Several capsules are designed to effectively and safely land on land.
Including the soyuz which to this day routinely lands on land
But the landing needs active thrusters to soften the blow. This introduces more complexity and also adds more danger as there needs to be extra fuel on board.
And extra weight I imagine, making it more expensive to launch.
Correct. It’s not that they can’t, they save tens of millions by landing in the water on fuel alone. Not only to land but to leave. The extra fuel increases the weight which increases the overall fuel cost on launch.
And the space shuttle which did it for decades