if basically you go straight up...to come straight back down, would there even be re-entry?
I was gonna say, I don't think they even [totally] broke atmosphere.
My understanding is they did not go up high enough to have the heat damage
Yes, if you go high enough you exit the atmosphere and you will re‐enter it when you come down. The heat happens when you are moving at a high lateral speed and you use the atmosphere to slow you down upon re‐entry. The womens’ flight did not need to do that, so their capsule did not heat up.
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