It makes sense, it only looks shocking because it looked like it landed intact. It didn't, which meant it was probably leaking like a sieve. Everything the Russians made was big, probably to handle the rough handling between construction and launch. To make it bounce proof it would have to considerably larger to hold the extra fuel to propel the extra weight, which isn't going to happen. I always wondered why they don't put in a mechanism that ejects the inhabited part, or part of it, if something goes wrong on take off or now, in coming back. Russian space capsules probably bonce a few times before coming to a rest. If this was in any one of many other countries we would only see the successes, not the failures.
Anyone who fooled around with those estes rockets knows that everything under the sun can always go sideways, they literally did sometimes, and they are quite simple devices. The best launch I ever saw was a 2 stage where everything worked, highest that model ever went, maybe even higher, on the ground it was calm. Up above there was a stiff wind blowing. It was chased for miles, but the chute deployed perfectly, perhaps a little too well, no twisted strings no haphazardly fluttering about. It just sailed out of sight.
gizmodo.com
