The Apollo Lunar missions were sent into a figure 8 reverse lunar orbit so they would return to Earth orbit w/o interference.
They had to brake to get into a Lunar orbit. They had to boost to get out of lunar orbit. They had to brake for Earth re-entry. I heard it called a "mail slot"; 40mi wide X 5mi high they had to hit. Too low and heat built faster than speed slowed and they would burn up. Too high and they would not slow down enough and wind up dying in Earth orbit.
There is video taken in the last 30 years showing a fairly massive object over Canada vaporizing/shedding mass but still "ricocheting" off the atmosphere.
The Hoba meteorite would have made a 100-200M hole if it had come straight in. It came in at a small angle and slowed to suborbital velocity. Considering its mass(estimated) and density; it could have touched ground at hundreds if not thousands of mph bounced hundreds of miles before coming to rest.
PS. I don't think it's going to float even if it rains lots more...
They had to brake to get into a Lunar orbit. They had to boost to get out of lunar orbit. They had to brake for Earth re-entry. I heard it called a "mail slot"; 40mi wide X 5mi high they had to hit. Too low and heat built faster than speed slowed and they would burn up. Too high and they would not slow down enough and wind up dying in Earth orbit.
There is video taken in the last 30 years showing a fairly massive object over Canada vaporizing/shedding mass but still "ricocheting" off the atmosphere.
The Hoba meteorite would have made a 100-200M hole if it had come straight in. It came in at a small angle and slowed to suborbital velocity. Considering its mass(estimated) and density; it could have touched ground at hundreds if not thousands of mph bounced hundreds of miles before coming to rest.
PS. I don't think it's going to float even if it rains lots more...