Solid Rocket Booster Recovery (2D)

After separating from the Space Shuttle stack at roughly 45 km altitude, each solid rocket booster fell back to the Atlantic under nothing but gravity and drag. This 2D canvas simulator models that fall with the real drag equation and an exponential atmosphere: a tumbling freefall phase, a drogue-chute deceleration phase, and a triple-main-chute splashdown phase, each with its own effective drag area. A chase view tracks the falling booster while two live plots — descent rate vs. altitude and descent rate vs. time — trace the characteristic step-down in terminal velocity at each chute deployment. Adjust the drogue and main deploy altitudes and watch how they trade off dynamic pressure against final splashdown speed.