NASA’s Plan to Bounce People Off the Atmosphere
An uncrewed capsule has circled the moon and made a historic plunge on its way home.
Updated at 2:37 p.m. ET on December 11, 2022
If you want to send people to the moon, you have to be able to bring them home safely. And if you want to bring them home, you must send them hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere in a wash of heat and fire.
An incoming capsule exits space at thousands of miles per hour, then decelerates rapidly. The astronauts inside feel gravity reassert itself with an uncomfortable crush. Friction between the blazing capsule and the surrounding atmosphere produces heat scorching enough to break apart air molecules, and the resulting flashes of plasma , blocking the view of Earth. Some of the heat shield, coated in
