• Question: What happens when the other halve of the space ship departs?

    Asked by Lian to Vinita, Col Op, Charlie 🚀 on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Columbus Operations

      Columbus Operations answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Joao: When a spacecraft is entering through the atmosphere it is coming really fast, and because it hits the air so fast it gets really hot, so it needs to have some protection agaisnt all this heat and also to have a very specific shape (basically with a shield in the front). That is why it seperates before entering the atmosphere, to get rid of all the spacecraft parts that are no longer need. The part with the astronauts is then much more suitable for the reentry. The other parts are not made to reenter the atmosphere. So they will burn up in the atmosphere (just like a shooting star).

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