when coming back from space, why do astronauts don’t just use a parachute all the way down?
In: Engineering
When you’re in orbit, you’re not just gracefully floating up there like a balloon. You’re shooting around at about 27000 km/h (17000mph). There’s not a parachute or cord anywhere that could handle those speeds.
You have to smack your ship/capsule into the atmosphere to slow yourself down first.
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