06. Do astronauts worry when breaking through the atmosphere? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

It is always a tense time when the Space Shuttle undergoes re-entry. On orbit the Shuttle is moving at about 15,000 miles per hour. The Shuttle's engines fire and the Shuttle slows, drops down and encounters higher atmospheric densities. The atmosphere slows the Shuttle down to about 200 miles per hour (mph). This process creates great heat and ionization. As long as the tiles on the Shuttle are intact, the astronauts are safe from this tremendous heat.

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Answer provided by Robert P. McCoy, Ph.D.

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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