> I never understood why a free-fall from space with a parachute would not work. It depends what you mean by "from space". The ISS is in space and also _in orb

> I never understood why a free-fall from space with a parachute would not work. It depends what you mean by "from space". The ISS is in space and also _in orbit_, so is moving laterally at about 17,500 mph / 28,000 km/h / 7777 m/s / Mach 22 (1) It's not just about falling, it's about the heat and stress of hitting the air when moving sideways at nearly 8 kilometres per second. The "sub-orbital hop" scenario that Bezos and Branson do involves technically "falling from space" but is very different as they're not moving sideways. 1) https://www.space.com/16748-international-space-station.html https://www.space.com/16748-international-space-station.html