"Allan Cole" wrote:

So, what would happen if you jumped off the shuttle in orbit toward the
earth with parachute? Could you slow down enough to keep from burning up?
Since the space suit is good for 8 hours it should be plenty of time to
freefall to earth.

The burn on reentry is only caused by an object entering the atmosphere at a
high speed. If you floated down gently, you wouldn't feel any heat at all.

True, but there are two problems you're not addressing. First, an
object in orbit around the Earth is necessarily at high speed. (To slow
to a halt so you can "float down gently" would require as much
acceleration as it did to get to orbit in the first place.) Second,
dropping straight down through the upper atmosphere isn't going to
provide much resistance until the air gets somewhat thicker...by which
time you're going at a very high speed.