How can a rocket approaching the Karman Line then return to earth faster than 53 m/s terminal velocity?
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In the book, How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race and the Birth of Private Spaceflight the opening chapter details the June 2004 attempt to take SpaceShipOne to the Karman Line. The chapter also recounts a story of the X-15, piloted by Mike Adams in 1967, re-entering the earth's atmosphere at Mach 5 and breaking up in a violent spin. This is used as a warning to the reader about the dangers that Melvill is facing in SpaceShipOne . How does a vehicle, having exhausted it's primary thrust, return to earth at a greater speed than terminal velocity?
rockets gravity thrust
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asked Nov 26 at 2