Once you realize that the end goal is to be able to fly back rockets in places with a minimum of infrastructure it makes sense. Heck we landed on the moon the s

Once you realize that the end goal is to be able to fly back rockets in places with a minimum of infrastructure it makes sense. Heck we landed on the moon the same way. Also, rockets are deceptively fragile so most variations of the 'catch and drop' type recovery won't be good for the rocket.