07. Is it severely hot passing through the Earth's atmosphere? (A K2S Question)

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The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies from about 45° F at the surface to 1700° F at 120 miles up. Satellites and rockets get hot passing through the atmosphere because they are usually moving at tremendous speeds. If a rocket moved slowly through the atmosphere it would not get very hot.

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


Image:K2S logosmall.jpg Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer


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