Eli5: why can spacecrafts not be slowed down enough to red-enter the atmosphere without burning up?

Question

Eli5: why can spacecrafts not be slowed down enough to red-enter the atmosphere without burning up?

In: 228

Answer 1

The tyranny of rocket equations…

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition30/tryanny.html

There’s a point of diminishing returns where hauling more fuel up takes more fuel, which in turn takes more fuel to launch that fuel, resulting in more fuel being needed, etc.

Results in like 90 plus percent of the rockets mass at takeoff being fuel.

In order to slow down enough for frictionless re-entry, you’re talking about taking so much fuel that the effective cargo carrying capability of the rocket nears zero.