Here’s what re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere looks like from the POV of a space capsule

Amazing footage released by Varda Space Industries gives us a first-person view of a space capsule’s return journey to Earth, from the moment it separated from its carrier satellite in orbit all the way through its fiery re-entry and bumpy arrival on the surface . Varda’s W-1 capsule landed at the Utah Test and Training Range, a military site, on February 21 in the first time for a commercial company. It spent the roughly eight months leading up to it in low-Earth orbit, mired in regulatory limbo as the company waited for government approvals needed to land on U.S. soil, according to .

“Here’s a video of our capsule tearing through the atmosphere at Mach 25, no renders, raw footage,” the company posted on along with re-entry clips. Varda also shared a 28-minute video of the W-1’s complete journey home from LEO on .

Varda, which is working with Rocket Lab on the mission, is trying to develop mini-labs that can manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit — in this case, the HIV drug ritonavir. Its W-1 capsule was attached to Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite “bus,” which the company said before launch would provide power, communications and altitude control for the capsule. Photon successfully brought the capsule to where it needed to be for re-entry last week, after which it itself burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, reported. Now that the capsule is back, Ars Technica reports that ritonavir crystals grown in orbit will be analyzed by Indiana-based pharmaceutical company Improved Pharma.