NASA releases epic video of moon spacecraft re-entering Earth's atmosphere in a ball of flames

NASA has published a new video on its Orion spacecraft account that relives the moment the Moon-bound spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere.

The event took place last year on December 12 when NASA's Artemis 1 mission reached its final stages, as the Orion spacecraft that was sent on a 25.5-day journey around the Moon finally made it back to Earth. The small spacecraft was essentially a first test run of the Orion capsule, which will be the mode of transportation for astronauts walking on the Moon in NASA's Artemis 3 mission.

The goal of Artemis 1 was to simply test out all of Orion's instruments, re-entry back to Earth, and general reconnaissance data collecting that will be used to reduce the likelihood of failure in future Artemis missions. The video showcases the Orion capsule smashing into Earth's thick atmosphere at 6.8 miles a second, or more than 32 times the speed of sound. The small capsule essentially skipped across Earth's atmosphere while flaming up and creating a plasma wake behind it.

"The skip entry will help Orion land closer to the coast of the United States, where recovery crews will be waiting to bring the spacecraft back to land," said Chris Madsen, Orion guidance, navigation, and control subsystem manager back in April 2022.