I don't think he was saying 'from orbit.' He was saying in an emergency. Yes, the heat from re-entry is caused by the slowing of the spacecraft's relative spee

I don't think he was saying 'from orbit.' He was saying in an emergency. Yes, the heat from re-entry is caused by the slowing of the spacecraft's relative speed from the incredibly fast speeds of orbit, as gravity gains hold of it and pulls it even faster. If someone exited a spacecraft in space, with zero drag, and headed towards earth, they would be moving at faster than their terminal velocity and would likely burn up. But if someone had an issue in a sub-orbital flight - or on takeoff for a space mission - bailing out could be a viable option. (Interestingly, this is why Col. Kittinger made the jumps he made with Project Excelsior in 1960 - to test whether an astronaut with no skydiving experience in the upcoming Mercury space program could successfully escape their spacecraft in the event of an emergency during the ascent.)