system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why can't an orbiting spacecraft match the speed of the Earth and decend into the atmosphere to reduce the friction of reentry?

It seems logical to be able to safely drop into the atmosphere in this manner without the reentry burn.
gpt
Because friction slows you down for free, but reversing a low-earth orbit requires an absurd amount of fuel. It takes a gigantic rocket to lift a few hundred pounds into orbit. In order to slow the spacecraft down you'd need to carry the rockets and fuel required to do so into space, which would require a much, much larger rocket.