Nobody has addressed what seems to me an obvious solution:

- While orbiting at 17000mph or so to dip down into the upper atmosphere -
the very edge -then deploy a large parachute similar to the modern sport
chutes that forms an airfoil.

These things generate lift, just like any other airfoil. It seems to me that
an inclined plane should still generate lift, even when the medium is a very
thin gas - or even independant molecules.

Then just skip along in the upper atmosphere for a long time (maybe as much
as a full "orbit" changing angle of attack - slowly slowing and dropping
into thicker air enough to balance temperatures and lift. If things get too
hot, set the chute to a low drag configuration, and use the lift to lift up
for a bit, then drop back down when you can.

You still have a lot of kinetic energy to dissipate, but the grossly
increased time will allow it to be lost by several mechanisms to the
atmosphere and to radiation.

This may not be a solution for the huge mass of the shuttle, but a future
"X-Prize" orbiter that weighed only a few thousand pounds could use it.