[Steel Wolf]

At 200K feet there is just not much air; 207,000 feet is almost 40 miles.

Even a tiny amount of air would produce a tremendous amount of heat at the speed the shuttle was traveling, right?

[ReformedBeckite]

Even a tiny amount of air would produce a tremendous amount of heat at the speed the shuttle was traveling, right?

The SR-71 turned cherry red and expanded a foot or two and they were only going about 3.5 mach at about a 80,000 ft. This shuttle was going what 3 times or more faster and was at over twice the distance. Of course they also tell me if the SR-71 flew any lower it would be ripped apart by the air. And if it flew any higher it would launch it's self toward space and probably be unstable.

[MrNatural]

Even a tiny amount of air would produce a tremendous amount of heat at
the speed the shuttle was traveling, right?

Absolutely right. The surface temperature of the shuttle at that point is around
2000F. The insulating tiles are good to 2300F and can be reused many times at
that temperature; they can actually go to 2800F, but they aren't useable again.

By comparison, Aluminum starts to melt around 1100F, and is liquid at 1200F.