19. Upon entering the atmosphere of Earth, how are the astronauts protected against the heat? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

In addition to the heat shield there is an air conditioning system that keeps the temperature in the crew compartment at 65° to 80° F. Air is circulated at 14.7 psi—the same as at sea level on Earth—and heat is transferred from the air to a Freon system, and from there to boilers that dump the heat into space by evaporating water and ammonia. Ref 1.

Ref 1.NASA, National Space Transportation System Reference, Volume 1 Systems and Facilities, June 1988. This document is available on the Internet at: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/stsreftoc.html#sts-umbilical-doors

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Answer provided by Jon H. Brown

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

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