What a bummer! And yes, same problem with retro thrusters! :\'( I have noticed that if you activate the parachutes at a high altitude, like >10-20km, they will fall to a lower altitude before opening. It\'s just that having them in a separate stage before decoupling takes away precious seconds before I can drop that extra weight. I\'m sure this will be fixed eventually, though, because I imagine it would be a really big part of the full game, as far as money management goes. That\'s actually why I\'m making some designs like that.