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Launching the platform is one thing, having it land or deploy something that a person can exit from in rough terrain is quite a different thing.

It wouldn't need to land. Parachuting out of the vehicle is an alternative, as was done by Yuri Gagarin in the Vostok I flight.

Yes, I believe the first 5 or 6 cosmonauts ejected rather than risk a landing in the Vostok capsule.