A Conversation for The Physics of Space Shuttle Re-Entry
I believe the 13km/s orbital velocity figure is incorrect
jdesbonnet Started conversation Aug 5, 2006
You might want to check that 13km/s figure. I believe it is about 7.5km/s (relative to the ground) for a circular pro-grade low earth orbit at about 130km altitude.
Anyone interested in this should check out Martin Schweiger's excellent and free orbiter flight simulator software at at http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html You can experience a very accurately simulated space shuttle reentry (and takeoff and hundreds of other scenarios) using this software.
Windows PC required unfortunately.
I believe the 13km/s orbital velocity figure is incorrect
Pinniped Posted Aug 16, 2006
You're right - my mistake. The 13 km/s figure is a typical peak speed for a Shuttle mission, but your value of a little under 8 is the correct one for the final orbital speed.
I'll try find how to correct it.
Thanks!
Pin
I believe the 13km/s orbital velocity figure is incorrect
The H2G2 Editors Posted Apr 29, 2010
Hi jdesbonnet and Pinniped. Don't know how far you got with getting this corrected at the time, but we've just made this amendment. Better late than never! And thanks for spotting it. 
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I believe the 13km/s orbital velocity figure is incorrect
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