Coming Home: Reentry and Recovery from Space (NASA/Sp)

The technologies for the reentry and recovery from space might change over time, but the challenge remains one of the most important and vexing in the rigorous efforts to bring spacecraft and their crews and cargo home successfully.Returning to Earth after a flight into space is a fundamental challenge, and contributions from the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in aerodynamics, thermal protection, guidance and control, stability, propulsion, and landing systems have proven critical to the success of the human space flight and other space programs.Without this base of fundamental and applied research, the capability to fly into space would not exist.

Roger D. Launius is a curator at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He has written or edited a number of books, including "Imagining Space: Achievements, Projections, Possibilities, 1950-2050".

Dennis R. Jenkins is a consulting engineer in Cape Canaveral, Florida, working on various aerospace projects including 20 years on the Space Shuttle and several on the stillborn X-33 program. He is the author of "Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System - The First 100 Missions" in addition to more than 30 other works on aerospace history.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration