It looks like they did not.from what I can find and what I remember, capsules, which had a broad, flat heat shield and multiple chutes, never experienced full immersion upon impact. I do recall hearing Gemini coverage where they were talking about terminology: if the capsule (which was somewhat aspect-taller than the Apollo capsules) was floating on its heat shield, it was in Stable-One position, and if it was tipped over, it was in Stable-Two position.
IIRC, the Mercury and Gemini capsules also had bellows-like extensions of the heat shields that cushioned their landings and helped keep them afloat upright, until the flotation collars could be attached. So yes, they were never immersed deeply when landing at sea.
I imagine the simpler, more spherical design of Soviet capsules meant fairly hard landings on land, even though they were slowed by parachutes.
Interesting (to me) factoid. The Gemini capsule (I like pt pronounce it ‘jim-in-ee’) had landing gear.
Did it? I know there were proposals for Gemini to land with a steerable parachute or Rogallo wing (similar to a hang glider), and that capsule would have needed landing gear. I’m pretty sure neither of those ever flew, but there are traces of those designs on the final capsule. The parachute that was used was attached to the capsule at two places; the pointy end (where Mercury and Apollo had their parachutes) and near the heat shield. That meant the Gemini capsule came down in a horizontal orientation, with the pilots sitting up and having some forward visibility.
I don’t know when the steerable landing options were abandoned. Weight was so critical in those days that I don’t think NASA would have installed landing gear that wouldn’t be used. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still attachment points for landing gear, or other vestiges of the original design.
The Revell 1/48 model of the Gemini capsule that I had as a kid has the option of building it with the landing gear, which had skids instead of wheels. The nose cone had to be left off to expose the interior workings of the landing gear.
No airfoil was provided, but I believe the compartments in which it would have been stored could be left open as well.
The bigger 1/32 model had no such options.
The landing gear were probably scrapped once it was decided all recoveries would be at sea. I believe the Air Force had a similar program called the Dyna-Soar that was also supposed land on skids, but it was found to be much less efficient than the Gemini capsules.
Shit, I knew that. I was thinking of an equally stupid show/movie (I can’t remember the details) that did something similar with a shuttle.
Gemini capsule, two people, IIRC.
Why is all the writing backwards?
I think some video pirates (arrr matey!) think if they reverse the video, then the automated copyright cops can’t find it.
That was my guess too.
I had forgotten there was a samovar inside the space capsule. The older ones burned charcoal, which is why the chimney is connected to that hose. A nice touch, that. 
(Modern ones use electricity.)
They also have what was called a “red corner” (красный угол) on board. These were little shrines to Lenin that were set up in official buildings.
It’s amazing how much open space is in that capsule, and that the cosmonauts are free to stand, walk around, and sit upright.
The lettering on the outside makes no sense whatsoever. I think they were going for “New World” (Новый Свет), but they missed it by a mile.
The spoken Russian is more or less accurate, but difficult to understand.
They should have done that with the commercials, too.
Okay, back to Star Trek. I just started “By Any Other Name.”
Does the crew of the Enterprise get to play freeze tag for pretty much the whole episode?
They’re all transformed into those crumbly blocks, yeah. It was just a way of getting all those unneeded extras out of the way to cut costs.
This episode is notable for (a) a reference to an earlier episode (“A Taste of Armageddon”), a rare thing in '60s episodic TV, and (b) the sole death of a female Security officer (a “Redskirt”?) in the run of TOS.
Also references the energy barrier from Where No Man Has Gone Before.
That’s right! I get the feeling this was the point in the second season where they started getting low on ideas.
The “crumbly blocks to cut down on extras” thing was a completely arbitrary decision on the part of Gene Coon. When approached to solve the extras problem, he was playing with an onyx dodecahedron from Mexico that he kept on his desk as a paperweight.
And of course, no one got heightened ESP powers going through the barrier. Funny, that. Would have been useful to defeat the Kelvans. ALL of the Kelvans. " You don’t understand the scope of my crime. I didn’t kill just one Kelvan, or a hundred, or a thousand. I killed them all. All Kelvan everywhere. They were like ants."
That is cold.
Absolutely!
One reason they did that was to cut down on their costuming costs. TV studios already had costumes for Romans, gangsters, etc.
They could also use existing sets. City on the Edge of Forever was filmed on the set of the Andy Griffith Show. You can see William Shatner and Joan Collins walking past Floyd’s Barber Shop in one scene.
