When a satellite re-enters the atmosphere, it's travelling at orbital speed, while the atmosphere is not (it's pretty close to stationary, relative to the ground). The satellite hits the air at nearly 8km/s.
There's no reason why the ship they jumped from couldn't be stationary relative to the atmosphere. In 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped from a balloon at 102k feet, where the atmospheric pressure is about 100th that of sea level. He fell for nearly 5 minutes before safely deploying his parachute at 18k feet and landing safely.
no subject
When a satellite re-enters the atmosphere, it's travelling at orbital speed, while the atmosphere is not (it's pretty close to stationary, relative to the ground). The satellite hits the air at nearly 8km/s.
There's no reason why the ship they jumped from couldn't be stationary relative to the atmosphere. In 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped from a balloon at 102k feet, where the atmospheric pressure is about 100th that of sea level. He fell for nearly 5 minutes before safely deploying his parachute at 18k feet and landing safely.