Originally posted by Jools
So finally 'admittance' that it's slowed down and changed it's orientation...hurrah!
Lets be careful about the wording here.
It has NOT changed the direction it was travelling in the orbit.
It has changed the direction it faces, and thus changed the amount of air resistance that it suffers at it travels through the thin wispy layers at the top of our atmospshere. Thats the 'orientation' they speak of.
Because of this lowered aerodynamic drag, it isnt being slowed down quite as much as they expect, and will make a few more (but not many more) orbits before reentry.

