I’ve got an uncle that constantly posts conspiracy theories all the time, latest one is
‘The shuttle heats up during reentry at speeds of 16,700 mph’
‘But while leaving earth at speeds of 25,000 mph there’s no heat?’
In: Physics
When it’s leaving the atmosphere, it’s trying to accelerate – so it’s making itself as narrow as possible in relation to the air it’s moving through, ie its pointed straight up. When coming back, the opposite is true, because crashing is bad – so it makes itself as wide and un-aerodynamic as possible, which means a lot more air is hitting it than before. (That’s slightly simplified, because using the rotation of the earth to increase your relative velocity is a thing, as is coming back in too shallow and bouncing back off the atmosphere, but the general premise is accurate)
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