What does the entrance to the atmosphere look like? Video from NASA

We all know that when entering the atmosphere of Earth, heavenly bodies become very hot. The same applies to spacecraft - when entering the atmosphere, small parts simply burn, large ones melt, and fall to Earth.

If you want to keep the module falling in the atmosphere intact, various technologies are used to protect the device from high temperature exposure. But this concerns the inside of the capsule, and the outside is still very hot. The other day NASA posted a video clip on the Network , which clearly shows how the atmosphere acts on the vehicle (in this case, the Orion capsule) during fast descent.
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On December 5, Orion was launched into space by the Delta 4 Heavy booster rocket as part of the first phase of field trials. The launch was successful, the device was distant from Earth at a distance of 5800 kilometers, and then successfully returned to Earth. Orion entered Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 32 thousand kilometers per hour, with the heating of the capsule's protective casing to 2.2 thousand degrees Celsius.



In the capsule many devices were installed, and one of them is a camera. The device is placed inside the capsule, and "looks" up (at the bottom, no protective measures would help keep the camera). So when watching a video, we look as if from a capsule up, watching the “tail” of ionized gases accompanying the falling Orion.