QUESTION:
Why didn't the parachute on the probe burn up immediately?

ANSWER from Robert Mitchell of the Project Management Team on January 2, 1996
The parachute was made of dacron, just plain ordinary dacron that you see listed
in the labels of some clothing articles you might buy. The parachute was likely
the first item on the probe to be destroyed by the heat, but remember that high
up in the atmosphere it was very cold, and got gradually warmer as the probe
descended, passing through a region of around room temperature. By the time the
temperature got hot enough to melt the dacron, the probe's task of collecting
and relaying data to the main craft flying overhead was finished.