Capsule reentry

[clickypens]

So I've pretty much mastered winged reentry, and am starting to work on capsules. Launcing, orbiting, docking, etc is pretty much the same, and I can do that, but I don't know much about reentry.

With a winged craft (DG class, Shuttle, whatever) I generally go for an angle of about 1º, but what angle do I want for a capsule? I realize that different ones will have different flight caracteristics (controlled lift or what have you) but what is a general guideline from LEO?

 

[Tommy]

Generally 6 to 7 degrees, perhaps ajust a touch more from LEO. This is steep enough to prevent you from bouncing back if you are coming in fast, from LEO you can actually use a shallower angle than you can coming from the moon. It's not a bad idea to rotate the capsule 10 to 15 degrees forward once Reentry Interface is reached, this will slow the descent a bit, but it's not required.