NASA has just released a video that gives a glimpse of what an astronaut could see from a spacecraft while it would be falling through the earths atmosphere. The video shows the last 10 minutes of the Orion’s test flight – before the final splash into the Pacific Ocean.
This stunning footage revealed recently provides a look into breathtaking journey of about 1,000 kilometers through the different sections of the earths atmosphere and the bursts of plasma flashing towards into the blue sky.
The Orions heat shield interacts with the atmosphere and creates a plasma which reaches its peak after 2 minutes of entering the earths atmosphere. Hurtling through the atmosphere the temperatures reach 2,200 C and the colors change to create a spectacular light show from white to yellow, then to lavender and to magenta.
