How many kph does a space shuttle travel during landing?
the space shuttle travels at roughly 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h), when it is time to return home from Low Earth Orbit. the orbiter, the white airplane, is oriented with it’s tail in the direction of travel and upside down (basically, upside down and backwards). Then when it is time to return home, they fire their Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines, to slow them down by about 320 km/h to begin the 355 kilometers in altitude drop back to Kennedy Space Centre or Edwards Airforce Base, all the while, it’s range (distance) to the landing site is about 8,200 kilometers. about a half hour after they fire the OMS engines, they begin to encounter the first effects of the atmosphere, at about a height of 400,000 feet. from there, it’s more slowing down, aided by the the friction created from the earth’s atmosphere, until it gets to the landing site, where the main gear touches down on the runway at about 214-226 miles per hour, followed by the drage chute and the nose gear, and the orbiter co
