On Thursday of last week, the Soyuz Space Capsule “soft landed” on the steppe of Kazakstan, a huge accomplishment but also a pretty big understatement.
Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti, Russia’s Anton Shkaplerov, and the United States’ Terry Virts were the three astronauts who got to experience the soft landing, which in the YouTube video looks more like a small explosion.
The Soyuz Space Capsule entered the Earth’s lower atmosphere and deployed its parachute, after an approximately 3 hour trip from the International Space Station, before landing.
A small rocket blast was the only thing that took place before the parachute deploying and the capsule hitting the ground, creating quite the impact.
Interesting enough, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly told TIME, the trip was comparable to “going over Niagara Falls in a barrel — that’s on fire.”
Sounds intense!
