NASA Video Shows Astronauts-Eye View of Trial by Fire from Inside Orion EFT-1 on First Test Flight

Video Caption: New video recorded during NASAs Orion return through Earths atmosphere provides viewers a taste of what the vehicle endured as it returned through Earths atmosphere during its Dec. 5 flight test. Credit: NASA

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL Newly released NASA footage recorded during the first test flight of NASAs Orion crew capsule this month gives an astronauts-eye view of what it would have been like for a crew riding along on the Trial by Fire as the vehicle began the fiery reentry through the Earths atmosphere and suffered scorching temperatures during the approximately ten minute plummet homewards and parachute assisted splashdown.

The video provides a taste of the intense conditions the spacecraft and the astronauts it carries will endure when they return from deep space destinations on the journey to Mars, NASA said in a statement.

The video was among the first data to be removed from Orion following its unpiloted Dec. 5 flight test and was recorded through windows in Orions crew module.

The Orion deep space test capsule reached an altitude of 3604 miles and the video starts with a view of the Earths curvature far different from what weve grown accustomed to from Space Shuttle flight and the International Space Station (ISS).

Then it transitions to the fiery atmospheric entry and effects from the superheated plasma, the continued descent, gorgeous series of parachute openings, and concludes with the dramatic splashdown.

NASAs Orion spacecraft glides through clouds under its three massive main parachutes on its way toward a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 5, 2014. Credit: NASA

Although parts of the video were transmitted back in real time and shown live on NASA TV, this is the first time that the complete video is available so that the public can have an up-close look at the extreme environment a spacecraft experiences as it travels back through Earths environment from beyond low-Earth orbit.

A portion of the video could not be sent back live because of the communications blackout that always occurs during reentry when the superheated plasma surrounds the vehicle as it endures peak heating up to 4000 F (2200 C) and prevents data downlink. Video footage shows the plasma created by the interaction change from white to yellow to lavender to magenta as the temperature increases.

The on-board cameras continued to operate all the way through the 10 minute reentry period to unfurling of the drogue and three main parachutes and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 11:29 a.m. EST at about 20 mph.