Re-entry of Artemis II crew captured by the astronaut in International Space Station

@forallcurious Shouldn't it be going down (vertical) instead of horizontal?

@enbeeeh @forallcurious No. Orbit is more fast than up. The part of the atmosphere thick enough to slow the vessel down significantly is only 100 km thick. Coming straight down they would hit the ground at >8,000 m/s. Most of re-entry is just slowing down the getting "down" after that is easy.