I am. outraged at the university's treatment of a retired professor.. Mark of Excellence The matter of the practical benefits of emeritus status, however, is amoot point at many institutions, especially community colleges, thatlack resources to share with retired faculty members.
Dear publish1000-ga; You posed a great question. The answer is really much simpler than it first appears. The US Space Shuttle uses a rocket propulsion system to get into its final orbit in its approach to Earth. Other than that the Shuttle is essentially falling and during re-entry the aircraft is actually a glider. The reentry speed is largely dictated by the Earth gravitational pull and given the physics of such a reentry the speed is typically approximately 25,405 feet per second (17,322 statute miles per hour).
Astronauts are by far the fastest traveling humans with the earth as a stationary reference point. One might think the Apollo missions to the moon are the fastest traveling humans, but the speed of that spacecraft was only about 6,300 miles per hour. In fact, an orbiting space shuttle is much faster at 17,600 miles per hour. This is the fastest any man has reached. Although it seems very fast to us, this speed is 0.026% of the speed of light. For unassisted speed using Usain Bolt's time in the 100 meter, his top speed is 23.3 miles per hour (10.4 m/s).