The shuttle must perform the de-orbit burn to change its orbit so that the perigee, the point in the orbit closest to Earth, is inside of Earth's atmosphere. De-orbit maneuvers are done to lower the perigee of the orbit to 60 miles (or less). An altitude of 60 miles is important because this is where the orbiting spacecraft is recaptured by Earth’s gravity and re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.
Calculate the minimum change in velocity (delta v or ∆v) required for the space shuttle to decrease its altitude to 60 miles when it’s orbiting with an apogee of 246 miles and a perigee of 213 miles above the surface of Earth.
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