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So I was watching this video of a talk given by the creators of the game Kerbal Space Program. The video is more or less about game development, but this part (link should go right to the moment but just in case the timestamp is 25:14) hit me like a ton of bricks.

"No one really knows what re-entry effects look like. There's a lot of images on the internet if you just look for it, but you can see that of all of these they're all artists renderings. You can't find like a really nice picture of what the re-entry effect actually looks like."

This video was posted to youtube in 2013, of a talk recorded earlier than that, about a game development process that happened even before then. But I started searching online and sure enough, I can only seem to find artists' renders of re-entry effects. Some of them are so well done that they look photo-realistic, but they're still renders.

Plasma wind tunnels have been built, and I can find video demonstrations of these and the effect looks more or less like our popular conception, but I'm having trouble finding technical specifications that assert that the simulated conditions would look the same.

I know that gas composition can have significant impact on plasma appearance so for all I can confirm, these plasma wind tunnels are only worried about re-creating the pressure and temperature effects as easily as possible but the actual upper atmosphere would look different.

To that end, I found this other video, also from a ESA plasma wind tunnel experiment, and the colors look A.) quite varied! and B.) quite different from the popular conception - lots of greens and purples.

My question is two-fold:

  1. Is this still accurate, or have we ever actually captured photographic evidence of what re-entry effects look like for real spacecraft re-entering the atmosphere?
  2. If we haven't (understandable! It's not like we're re-entering multiple spacecraft in formation) then how certain are we that the popular conception of a fiery orange plasma is what re-entry would look like to the human eye?
Mia
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3 Answers3

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Do we actually know what re-entry looks like?

Yes.

There are thousands of photographs and videos taken of entry from inside and outside of crewed spacecraft. And, hundreds of human beings have seen it with their own eyes.

Here's a video from Apollo 11

Here's one from STS-107

Here's an external photo of a shuttle entry (source: NASA)

enter image description here

Internal photo of a shuttle entry (source: NASA)

enter image description here

Orion test (source: NASA)

enter image description here

Here's a decent external video. This is a destructive entry - the tank breaks up at ~ 1:05 in the video. It's of the STS-029 external tank entry. Source: NASA

Organic Marble
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    And for a destructive reentry, there's a distant shot from the ISS of a Soyuz booster reentering here: https://youtu.be/B1R3dTdcpSU?t=45 – Christopher James Huff Oct 25 '22 at 15:44
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    While these are photos of reentry, none are both external and high quality. – Topcode Oct 25 '22 at 15:53
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    @Topcode did the question specify that? Please quote that part. – Organic Marble Oct 25 '22 at 15:54
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    @OrganicMarble not directly, but it’s very clearly implied. The noted video game has options to view in a third person (external) view, even during reentry. – Topcode Oct 25 '22 at 15:57
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    @OrganicMarble I did mean to imply it, yes, though this answer was still extremely good. I think this footage more or less satisfactorily answers both of my actual questions I outlined. The answer to the first one is "no" we don't have great external footage in good resolution, but to the second one from the internal footage we do have we can feel confident that the renderings and such are accurate.

    Thank you!

     – Mia Oct 25 '22 at 18:57
  • @Mia thanks for the clarification. I will look for external footage and add it to my answer if I find something good. The really detailed stuff I've seen in that regard is mostly infrared imaging so probably would not be much help. – Organic Marble Oct 25 '22 at 20:02
  • @OrganicMarble We have lots of footage looking out at the plasma streaming past the spacecraft--we know what the sides look like. AFIAK nobody has images of what the side facing the fire looks like, though. – Loren Pechtel Oct 26 '22 at 00:31
  • @LorenPechtel did you see the video I just added? – Organic Marble Oct 26 '22 at 00:34
  • @OrganicMarble The relevant part of the video is totally blown out, it doesn't show us what it looks like at all. – Loren Pechtel Oct 26 '22 at 00:37
  • This answer kinda answers the title but not the actual question. None of the content posted in this answer is what I'd rate "a really nice picture of what the re-entry effect actually looks like". The quality of the recordings and photos is abysmal. – Tomáš Zato Oct 26 '22 at 12:41
  • @ChristopherJamesHuff: It looks stunning. Thanks – Eric Duminil Oct 27 '22 at 11:27
  • That's not an external photo of a shuttle reentry – Abdullah is not an Amalekite Mar 16 '24 at 02:52
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As of 2024, we now have close-up external footage from SpaceX Starship, eg this video.

Starship reentry plasma

Kaia
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  • @user721108 Can you elaborate? (I think I agree that different reentry profiles and spacecraft shapes might look different, but it seems like a notable enough addition to the question.) – Kaia Mar 15 '24 at 19:19
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We definitely know what re-entry looks like. Progress burn-up

this is only an animation because I couldn't find one about a real Soyuz.

I hope these are helpful. Here's one more, Crew Dragon

We know what re-entry looks like because we have all these videos and photos of it. Also, you can see the flames when you look out the window of the spacecraft (assuming you're in a spacecraft with windows, which would be most if not all crewed spacecraft, because astronauts have to see where they're going to dock with something). If you looked outside during reentry, this is what you'd see Ah yes, and I also saw this in my yard a few nights ago spacex reentry

Deko Revinio
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  • ” spacecraft with windows, which would be most if not all crewed spacecraft, because astronauts have to see where they're going to dock with something” - Wouldn’t a windowless spacecraft be safer/cheaper/sturdier though? And isn’t docking nowadays all done automatically by computer (with cameras, lidar, etc)? – Dai Oct 27 '22 at 04:16
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    @Dai computers fail sometimes. Most spacecraft still have windows in case the computers stop working and manual docking must be done. Also, it's really cool to look out the window and see space. Other than that, you're right. If there are other reasons why spacecraft have windows I'd like to hear them. – Deko Revinio Oct 27 '22 at 16:33
  • @ColonelCornieliusCornwall https://space.stackexchange.com/q/18889/6944 – Organic Marble Oct 29 '22 at 20:04