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by vannevar 4980 days ago
I'm assuming the orbital velocity has already been scrubbed off, and we're talking about a simple fall, which is more in the spirit (if not the letter) of the original question. Could you prevent the velocity from building up with a large drag device such as a balloon in that case?
1 comments

To me, the question implied that the design of the suit would have to overcome that problem; but I can see it either way.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reentry , there is a section on an inflatable heat shield launched on a sounding rocket (so sub-orbital, but lower altitude).