Atmospheric entry

celestial event caused by streams of meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere

A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere. It can be a synonym for a fireball, sometimes specific to those with an apparent magnitude of −4 or brighter.

On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second of two Space Shuttle missions to end in disaster, after the loss of Challenger and crew in 1986.

movement of an object through the gases of an atmosphere from outer space

component to shield a substance from absorbing excessive heat

thumb|300px|right|An artist's conception of aerobraking with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 300px|thumb |right |An example of Aerobraking Aerobraking is a spaceflight maneuver that reduces the high point of an elliptical orbit (apoapsis) by flying the vehicle through the atmosphere at the low point of the orbit (periapsis). The resulting drag slows the spacecraft. Aerobraking is used when a spacecraft requires a low orbit after arriving at a body with an atmosphere, as it requires less fuel than using propulsion to slow down. A more extreme maneuver is aerocapture, where a spacecraft uses an

atmospheric re-entry vehicle by the European Space Agency

Space Shuttle heat shielding system

Meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere and leaves again

higher temperatures due to movement through air

suborbital reentry test flown on the third Ariane 5 flight

thumb|500px|Phases of a skip reentry Boost-glide, or skip-glide, is a class of atmospheric entry trajectories that follow a non-ballistic trajectory by employing aerodynamic lift in the high upper atmosphere. The term is mostly used to refer to a number of designs that used lift to extend the range of an otherwise shorter-ranged rocket.

area of uncertainty of a spacecraft's landing zone