The stunning video released by Varda Space Industries provides a first-person view of the space capsule from the moment it separates from its carrier satellite in orbit, through its fiery re-entry and bumpy arrival on the surface, and its return to Earth. Varda’s W-1 capsule landed at the Utah Test and Training Range, a military base, on February 21, the first for a commercial company. It took about eight months to reach low Earth orbit, and the company is said to have run into regulatory hurdles while waiting for government approval needed to land on U.S. soil. .
“Here’s a video of our capsule cutting through the atmosphere at Mach 25. This is the raw footage, no rendering,” the company posted alongside a re-entry clip. Varda also shared a 28-minute video of W-1’s entire journey home from LEO.
Varda, who collaborated with Rocket Lab on the mission, is trying to develop a mini-laboratory that could produce medicines (in this case the HIV drug ritonavir) in orbit. The W-1 capsule was attached to Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite “bus,” which the company said would provide power, communications and altitude control to the capsule ahead of launch. Photon successfully brought the capsule to where it needed to be for re-entry last week, before burning itself out in Earth’s atmosphere. It has been reported. Now that the capsule is back, Ars Technica It reported that ritonavir crystals grown in orbit will be analyzed by Indiana-based pharmaceutical company Improved Pharma.