Why can’t the space shuttle just go slow enough to not be heated up by friction with earths atmosphere on re-entry?
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The other answers do a great job covering the fuel aspects, but even if fuel was not a problem, it would still not be an ideal way to do this. Here is another point to consider.
If a spacecraft is “in orbit”, that means a number of things about its flight path. In order to maintain that orbit, it has to go a certain speed. Slow down, and it drops to a lower orbit. As it is hurtling through space, the Earth’s gravity is constantly pulling it down. It is only by outrunning gravity does it stay in that orbit.
If you try to go slow enough to make a colder reentry, then the spacecraft is giving gravity a chance to pull it down even faster. This will result in a plummeting trajectory unless the spacecraft starts activating some sort of lift-providing device (like a rocket engine) to counteract the pull of gravity. Wings don’t work for this as the atmosphere is too thin and the shuttle too heavy. Otherwise, dropping like this could result in a spin or an unrecoverable dive.
Theoretically, with some sort of futuristic technology that provides nearly unlimited thrust without requiring significant additional fuel, a “cold” reentry could be possible.
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