How fast did the space shuttle go on reentry?

about 17,000 miles per hour
As the shuttle gets lower, it eventually begins to plow through the Earth’s atmosphere at initial speed of about 17,000 miles per hour!

How fast did the Apollo space shuttle go?

Stage three fired twice – once to get Apollo into orbit – and then again to propel the spacecraft away from Earth towards the moon at a speed of 25,000mph.

Why does Earth reentry have to be so fast?

To skim the Earth’s atmosphere in orbit, your spacecraft has to travel at least as fast as 7.8 km / second, or about 17,500 mph. If you slow down by a tiny amount below that speed, even by just a few hundred miles per hour, as you skim the atmosphere, you will fall too far towards Earth before you complete your orbit.

How does the Space Shuttle get into orbit and re-entry?

The Shuttle uses a rocket propulsion system to get into orbit, but during re-entry the aircraft is actually an un-powered glider. Small steering rockets are used for maneuvering early in the re-entry because the low density of the air at altitudes above 50 miles makes aerodynamic surfaces ineffective.

How can I reduce the re-entry speed of a spacecraft?

So, you can reduce your re-entry speed by orbiting in the same direction that the Earth spins. However, that only helps a bit. Your spacecraft still has to travel at 16,500 mph relative to our atmosphere to stay in orbit.

What is the speed of a spacecraft when it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere?

As a spacecraft re-enters the earth’s atmosphere, it is traveling very much faster than the speed of sound. The aircraft is said to be hypersonic . Typical low earth orbit re-entry speeds are near 17,500 mph and the Mach number M is nearly twenty five, M < 25 . The chief characteristic of re-entry aerodynamics is…

How can we lower a spacecraft slowly through the atmosphere?

We could lower a spacecraft slowly through our atmosphere with a space elevator. This is basically a giant lift, with the top a long way above our atmosphere, extending beyond geostationary orbit, and usually reaching to the ground at the equator. It is held in place, and tensioned, by a counterweight above geostationary orbit.