71% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans so it would only make sense to make launch and land platforms on the oceans. Not only for the space but for the

71% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans so it would only make sense to make launch and land platforms on the oceans. Not only for the space but for the safety; if a launch needs to be aborted, or has a catastrophic failure (see; explosion) the harmful debris won't come raining down on the population. That's why the U.S. launch sites are located on the coasts: Wallops Island, Cape Canaveral, and Vandenberg AFB. They all launch vehicles away from CONUS.