Why do spacecrafts like the decommissioned Space Shuttles re-enter the atmosphere at such high speeds?

Question

I was just reading an article on the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy and I began to wonder, why do they need to re-enter the atmosphere at roughly 17,000mph? Why not slow down to a less “burn up on re-entry” speed?

In: 2

Answer 1

The shuttles have limited fuel on board. The atmosphere is used as the braking mechanism to slow it down rather than carry enough fuel to do that.