History Main / ReentryScare

* The crew of Soyuz 11 died during re-entry when a valve that was supposed to seal the lines between the crew module and the jettisoned service module failed, causing a gradual decompression of the cabin. Most of the time, astronauts wear full space suits during re-entry in case of just such a problem, but the Russians had stopped it at this time. They went back to wearing suits after the accident.
* Vostok 1 suffered a failure to fully separate from its service module prior to re-entry, causing the spacecraft to enter at a squirrelly angle that potentially could have ended in disaster.

This trope is sometimes used incorrectly when the object does not have to aerobrake because its method of propulsion allows it to slow down -before- entering the atmosphere. E.g., if Superman uses his flight powers, not restricted by such concerns as fuel, to de-orbit at highway speeds, there will be no exceptional heat.

The process of atmospheric entry can be compared to hitting treacle after a ride across ice (or, if you're American, suddenly hitting a wall of peanut butter during an easy downhill jog). A fast-moving object compresses air before it, generating a lot of heat in the process. In fact, there are not many substances that can withstand the heat generated, and most spacecraft have an ablative heat shield that burns off during re-entry, which requires the spacecraft to come in at a fairly precise angle. This itself is a danger because if the craft comes in at too low an angle, it can literally bounce off the atmosphere and be lost in space (like a stone skipping on water), while if it comes in at too high an angle, the G-forces would likely kill (or seriously harm) the astronauts within. At even steeper angles, no heat shield can save the craft, and it will burn up as a man-made meteor.[[note]]Entry corridor precision is mostly an issue for deep-space vehicles like Apollo or Curiosity. Descending from low orbit is much harder to screw up, as the vehicle is already very close to the atmosphere and moving parallel to it; all it has to do is slow down a bit.[[/note]]

* ''{{Franchise/Tintin}}''. Happens in ''Explorers on the Moon'' as the "crushing G-Forces" make the crew black out every time (even when landing on and taking off from the Moon). Although the rocketship is designed to land automatically, it's still played up for tension with the usual comm failures and/or engine problems each time.

** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' features a lesser version in the final episode, where Heero has to fly into the atmosphere to prevent a chunk of [[SpaceFortress Libra]] from [[ColonyDrop falling to Earth]]. While the Wing Zero can (and has) entered the atmosphere under its own power, he has to stay in its mobile suit mode in order to use its [[{{BFG}} twin buster rifle]], the only weapon powerful enough to destroy the debris.

* ComicBook/JeanGrey of the ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' first encountered the Phoenix Force while using her telekinesis to hold the damaged space shuttle she and her friends were in together through re-rentry. While she succeeds in bringing the shuttle to Earth, at the same time a massive solar flare exposes her to a lethal radiation dose, and that's where the Phoenix Force steps in to save her.

*** Everybody on the ground knew that Soyuz was unready to fly, but the pressure to launch was coming from the utmost heights, so no one could really insist. YuriGagarin, then a commander of the cosmonaut corps and Komarov's best friend, tried to install himself as a Soyuz-1 pilot, considering that the [[BatmanGambit authorities wouldn't risk the first man in space]], but was unsuccessful.

This trope is sometimes used incorrectly, when the object is reentering the atmosphere ''slowly'' (relatively speaking). E.g., if Superman uses his flight powers to de-orbit at highway speeds, there will be no exceptional heat.

* In ''Anime/HaloLegends'', one of the ODST drop pods burns up on reentry in the beginning of "The Babysitter".

* In ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', the Master Chief's escape pod experiences airbrake failure when landing on the ring, and the crash kills everyone except for him.
** In the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' franchise in general, ODST drop pods have a non-insignificant rate of failure when launched, as alluded to in the "Anime" section.

* ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' join the fire department - when Ren is sent up a telescoping ladder hundreds of stories up to rescue a large fat woman, he passes out from vertigo. She grabs him, clenches him in her teeth, and steps out onto the ladder. Stimpy can't hold the crank and the two rocket earthward, her butt glowing red on re-entry.

* In ''Anime/HaloLegends'' one of the ODST drop pods burns up on reentry.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=STS-107 STS-107]] tragically burned up in re-entry when an accident at launch punched a suitcase-sized hole in the wing leading edge heat-shield but its fate was not immediately apparent in mission control. After contact was lost, Houston hailed the shuttle over and over again, growing increasingly concerned as the blackout, which does still happen during shuttle re-entries but normally clears after a few seconds didn't end after a minute, then two, then three, then eyewitness reports and amateur video started surfacing of multiple falling stars along the shuttle's flight path where thee should have been only one big one...

** The trick being to send the radio waves ''up'', since the communications aren't blocked in that direction. A satellite picks the signal and retransmits it to ground.

** It's more than just a rumour now that [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z_m7onLw74 the tapes]] have been released.

** The reason the radio blackout lasted longer than usual was that the Apollo 13 Command Module hit the atmosphere at the shallowest re-entry angle ''EVAR'', nearly at the lowermost limit before they would have ricocheted back off into space. This happened because a steam vent on the Lunar Module had been applying a very weak thrust to the docked spacecraft on its way back to Earth, without anyone's knowledge. And going into the reentry, there was the additional scare factor that ''they weren't sure the heat shield was intact''.

One other side effect of this whole process is that the heat generated strips electrons from the atmosphere. Since radio waves can't penetrate the resulting cloud of plasma, the spacecraft's communications systems are rendered useless[[note]]Through the plasma, signals sent elsewhere will be unaffected[[/note]] for the duration of the process, which lasts for several minutes. Well, it used to--see below.

One other side effect of this whole process is that the heat generated strips electrons from the atmosphere. Since radio waves can't penetrate the resulting cloud of plasma, the spacecraft's communications systems are rendered useless for the duration of the process, which lasts for several minutes. Well, it used to--see below.