Hmm, I deliberately did not mention Apollo 13 because they had many days before splashdown, after the explosion. Once they were returning back from behind the Moon, they could have chosen to return much faster than they did (but they didn't). They thought it would be better to land near their primary recovery ship and to have more control on their navigation. That's why they returned back more "slowly".
(Had they returned faster, they would have been the furthest AND fastest humans ever, because the Moon was slightly further away from Earth than for the other flights, except A10).
Vassiutin (1985 Soyuz T14) had to be returned back but his illness started several days (if not weeks) before, so there too, they took their time to land where they wanted.
Gemini 8 was the problem, because the failure was in the spacecraft itself, while in orbit.
You're right about recovering the CRV at sea and all the logistics involved around it. It should land somewhere like Utah, perhaps.
Raoul
Space/Science » in reply to Not exactly
Apollo 13...
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