We’re basically living a science fiction movie 24/7 these days.

Sometimes we’re winning, sometimes we’re losing, but no matter what, our technology is neat enough to make it look good.

The footage of this space capsule falling through the Earth’s atmosphere comes courtesy of space startup Varda Space Industries. It’s moving at around 25 times the speed of sound, and the footage is something to behold.

Here's a video of our capsule ripping through the atmosphere at mach 25, no renders, raw footage: pic.twitter.com/ZFWzdjBwad

— Varda Space Industries (@VardaSpace) February 28, 2024

The clip begins with the capsule floating in outer space, the rocket that delivered it drifting nearby.

As it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, though, burning particles start racing by, colors ranging from magenta to orange and red as the capsule really heats up.

By the time the orange glow is replaced by the blue aura blanketing the Earth’s surface, we see the capsule sinking into the cloud cover.

Below is a longer 5-minute edit from separation to touchdown:

The full unedited raw footage and audio from separation to touchdown is available on our YouTube: https://t.co/ipdBvx93iB pic.twitter.com/ggIRHUvnnI

— Varda Space Industries (@VardaSpace) February 28, 2024

It’s the end of an eight-month-long trip meant to see whether or not crystals of an antiviral drug would grow in a microgravity environment.

“The benefits primarily stem from the lack of convection and sedimentation forces, as well as the ability to form more perfect structures due to the absence of gravitational stresses.”

It’s re-entry was delayed by several months when both the US Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration failed to clear its return to Earth.

I’m happy that whenever it returned, this footage was captured and shared.

If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.