The Astreus descends to ground level after releasing the unit it's carrying. I'm guessing this might be a bug even though it's a hilariously cool* one. EDIT: I've tested this a couple of times against the AI and this is consistent behaviour *OMG SO OP1!1
I imagine the whole pick up and drop process will eventually be fully animated. I think this is just a minor concession to make orbital more playable before the proper units are in place.
The Astreus does what it's supposed to do, just in the wrong order, given no other instructions it will descend to ground level after dropping the unit. In the case of that gif, I had queued the commands so it never left the orbital layer. By rights those Anti-air turrets should have abruptly terminated the attempt to kill the commander there. Due to this 'bug' I was able to kill the AI's commander with a single Vanguard.
Is it travel interplanetary before unload? If yes there is bug report for this: PA#2988 If no some proper reproduction steps will be pretty helpful, thanks!
No it is not, the Astreus given the command to unload at a given point will proceed to that point, release the unit and then descend. Further movement commands will interrupt the descending portion of its movement and send the Astreus to the new location. It will do this 100% of the time regardless of whether the distance travelled is interplanetary or not. http://pa.lennardf1989.com/Tracker/index.php?do=details&task_id=3084
