Talk:Lifepod 5/@comment-39579421-20190818015249/@comment-39563968-20200119182335

How about this as an explanation:

The game writers established in the background that they wanted, that otherwise undefined circumstances of the crash dictated that only a fraction of the crew made it to lifepods, that only about half the lifepods launched, and that only a handful of those made it intact to the surface within the Crater area.

All else is forum entertainment speculation. Creative fun.