Herb Schaltegger wrote:

That's not really the plan, according to the ESAS documents. Three
large-diameter parachutes + airbags for terminal descent, preceded by
pilot and drogue chutes at higher altitude.


Then they had better make sure they detach immediately on touchdown, as
getting dragged around at sea is one thing, on dry land quite another.
They had also better hope that they don't encounter severe side wind
during landing, as I don't know how the airbags are going to react to
hitting the ground while traveling at twenty or thirty mph sideways.
I think the Russians may detach them manually, as they had a bad
experience during tests of a unmanned Soyuz where the parachutes
separated at several thousand feet in the air.

Pat