‘Spectacular’ space capsule video shows what a fiery return to Earth looks like

A CAPSULE carrying a space-grown antiviral drug back to Earth has filmed its ‘spectacular’ re-entry into the atmosphere at 175,000mph.

The breathtaking clip shows exactly what it would look like to sit in the front seat of a capsule returning to Earth before a parachute-assisted landing.

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Onlookers have described the recorded return as “Bizarrely spectacular” and called the dynamic range of the camera inside “wild”.

“From pure black space with visible stars to pointing directly at the sun, with no noticeable change in lighting. Bonkers,” says one YouTube user commented under the video.

The small W-1 capsule, built by Varda Space Industries, was launched into space aboard a SpaceX rocket in 2023 and landed back on Earth on February 21.

The capsule was on a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft that was part of the SpaceX Transport-8 rideshare mission that launched 72 spacecraft into orbit last June.

Gravity is a kind of parameter. When you put a temperature knob on an oven, you open up a whole world of new recipes and new foods that you can create.

Varda CEO Will Bruey

Varda’s space capsule demonstrates an unexpected commercial market emerging in the space sector, known as “microgravity as a service.”

Materials and chemical reactions behave differently in microgravity compared to how they behave on Earth.

Companies like Varda can sell space in their capsules – and time in microgravity – to companies across a range of industries to manufacture new products in space.

In the capsule, Varda was able to grow crystals of a drug called ritonavir, which can be used to treat HIV and hepatitis C.

“We produce pharmaceutical products in space”, Varda CEO Will Bruey explained in an interview on Marktplaats.

‘By removing gravity, we can make medicines that you would otherwise not be able to make on Earth.

“Gravity is like a parameter. When you put a temperature knob on an oven, you create a whole world of new recipes and new foods that you can create.

“Similarly, if you can change gravity, you can also change the chemical process for drug formulations.”

The entire footage, from separation to touchdown, lasts 27 minutes.

While the five-minute clip shows the capsule leaving Low Earth Orbit (LEO), where the majority of today’s satellites are located.

At the end of the full video you can watch a pair of muddy legs retrieve the capsule and collect the parachute.

According to Varda, the capsule reached Mach 25, which meets NASA’s criteria for hypersonic speeds.