[plg94]

Yes, for big parts where they know it will come down to the surface they try to aim for water, like they do with all the rocket boosters etc. However that's still risky, so given the choice between (fast descent and aim for ocean) and (slow descent to burn up in atmosphere) they almost always aim for the latter. Plus you can only "aim" something like a rocket booster or a satellite that can still generate a little thrust of its own. This case was more like throwing your heavy backpack from the top of a skyscraper – 3 years ago(!!). That's impossible to control. Plus it has been an emergency solution anyway, see https://www.space.com/space-station-jettisons-huge-space-jun...