Wikipedia has some pertinent (and interesting) details: > The Descent Module (Russian: Спуска́емый Аппара́т, tr. Spuskáyemy Apparát), also known as a reentry c

Wikipedia has some pertinent (and interesting) details: > The Descent Module (Russian: Спуска́емый Аппара́т, tr. Spuskáyemy Apparát), also known as a reentry capsule, is used for launch and the journey back to Earth. Half of the Descent Module is covered by a heat-resistant covering to protect it during reentry; this half faces the Earth during re-entry. It is slowed initially by the atmosphere, then by a braking parachute, followed by the main parachute which slows the craft for landing. At one meter above the ground, solid-fuel braking engines mounted behind the heat shield are fired to give a soft landing. One of the design requirements for the Descent Module was for it to have the highest possible volumetric efficiency (internal volume divided by hull area). The best shape for this is a sphere — as the pioneering Vostok spacecraft's Descent Module used — but such a shape can provide no lift, which results in a purely ballistic reentry. Ballistic reentries are hard on the occupants due to high deceleration and cannot be steered beyond their initial deorbit burn. That is why it was decided to go with the "headlight" shape that the Soyuz uses—a hemispherical forward area joined by a barely angled (seven degrees) conical section to a classic spherical section heat shield. This shape allows a small amount of lift to be generated due to the unequal weight distribution. So, maybe ballistic refers to the fact that no lift was generated? (A glider is not considered ballistic, even though it has no propulsion.) An, and indeed, that's what Wiktionary says: > ballistic entry: when an entry vehicle has only drag with no apparent lift. An axisymmetric entry vehicle would have no apparent lift if its angle-of-attack time averaged out to zero, e.g. sinusoid angle-of-attack centered or trimmed about zero lift. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_(spacecraft)#Descent_module https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_(spacecraft)#Descent_mod... https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_atmospheric_reentry https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_atmosphe...