These kind of tests wouldn't be necessary if fuel is not an issue.
Escaping the moon's gravitation takes lots of fuel. They compensate by relying on earth's gravitation once they exit the moon's Hill sphere. A mere 60,000 km from the moon.
That means the poor capsule is falling to earth all the way from 320,000 km. It costs yet more fuel to overcome the kinetic energy gained, slowing it down to those still ridiculous reentry speeds.
The goal is to slow it down to a point where the heat shield can handle reentry.