Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Theory Debunked by Astronaut Scott Kelly: ‘Ejection Would Be Very Survivable’

thewrap.com:

splatter like a chainmail glove swatting a worm” as soon as he hit the atmosphere at Mach 10.5.Then on Monday, Kelly tweeted that a jet would need to be at such high altitude to be able to fly Mach 10.5 in the first place that the thinness of the air would make ejection a breeze:Depends on his altitude.

I was going Mach 25 when I left the ISS on a spacewalk and that was just fine. https://t.co/w2LP91SX06The problem is, added the former International Space Station commander, Maverick would then begin the fall to Earth.

Ever seen what happens to big chunks of rock when they enter the atmosphere? It’s spectacular! But not in a way favorable to the survival of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.To be completely clear.

At the altitude at which a Mach 10 hypersonic aircraft would be flying, the ejection would be very survivable, the reentry into the atmosphere in just a pressure suit, not so much.Still, descending in a blaze of meteoric glory is far from deGrasse Tyson’s extremely nerdy and slightly nauseating “chain mail glove swatting a worm” reference.Late to the party here, but In this year’s @TopGunMovie, @TomCruise’s character Maverick ejects from a hypersonic plane at Mach 10.5, before it crashed.He survived with no injuries.At that air speed, his body would splatter like a chainmail glove swatting a worm.