system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 : There are documented cases of people surviving a free fall at terminal velocity. Why would you burn up on atmospheric re-entry but not have this problem when you begin your fall in atmosphere?

Edit: Seems my misconception stemmed from not factoring in thin atmosphere = less resistance/higher velocity on the way down.

Thanks everyone!
gpt
The terminal falling velocity of a human body is around 200 kilometers per hour. The orbital velocity at 242 kilometers up is 27,359 kilometers per hour. So someone falling from orbit is going about 136 times faster than someone just falling at their terminal velocity!

Most of the heating comes from compressive heating, where the air in front of the falling object just doesn't have time to go anywhere and builds up in front of the object.