Stages falling into the sea are not recoverable

[Falesh]

I am trying to save a bit of cash by adding parachutes to my rocket stages so I can recover them. However it seems like when they fall into the sea and I try to recover them they fall through the sea and crash on the bottom.

[Radam]

Are they 22km away from you when they dissapear? That is the range of KSP physics, objects more distant are taken out of simulation, and if they are in atmosphere and not landed they dissapear.

[Falesh]

Are they 22km away from you when they dissapear? That is the range of KSP physics, objects more distant are taken out of simulation, and if they are in atmosphere and not landed they dissapear.

There was an instance where the I could recover an item via the observatory, it was in the sea very near the coast but as soon as I selected to "Fly" it it sank and exploded. However what you say is probably what has been happening in the bulk of the incidents. I'll give up on saving my lower stages. Thanks for the clarification!

[sal_vager]

There is a recover button in the tracking station to recover parts directly, without having to load them, if they have survived the fall they should be recoverable.