The Starfuries are absolutely non-aerodynamic, and in the gravity well of
a planet, would simply plummet; they're not set up to function within that
kind of environment. It isn't the re-entry, it's gravity and maneuvering once
you're *in* the thing.

One sidelight to the speed question...it's sometimes hard to judge speed
when there are no handy landmarks. The shuttle moves with INCREDIBLE speed as
it orbits Earth...but to look at it from any of the nearby cameras, when they
do a spacewalk, you can't tell it's moving at ALL. Basically, we're between a
rock and a hard place; if we portrayed motion a la the Space Shuttle, nothing
would seem to move; if we portrayed the pure speed AS pure speed, using some
kind of landmarks or visual cues, it would go by SO fast that you *wouldn't be
able to see it*. If you're moving at 15 klicks a second...it's gone by the
time you look at it.

jms