My first thought of the term reentry was of a spaceship that has traveled outside Earth’s atmosphere. The launch into space is a miracle, but the mission is not complete until there is a successful reentry. Upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere, the spaceship’s exterior can reach 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The entry angle must be exact – if it is too steep, the spacecraft burns up. If the angle is too shallow, the spacecraft skims off the edge of the atmosphere like a stone skimming along the surface of a pond. An imprecise reentry is catastrophic, resulting in a failed mission and loss of crew.
...more
