In fact, the capsule is of normal shape: it just has a cutout for the camera.
Varda Space, a company experimenting with growing crystals in space, showed what the return of its first capsule to Earth looked like. The demonstration took place with a first-person view: a camera was installed in the capsule.
From the video footage it may seem that the capsule looks quite unusual. In fact, this is not so: the capsule is an elongated hemisphere with a small niche for a camera – from there the landing is shown.
The most interesting thing begins around the 12th minute of the video, when the capsule enters the dense layers of the atmosphere. At this moment she is engulfed in flames, bright flashes flying away, these are the smallest fragments of the capsule’s thermal protection.
The capsule stayed in space for more than six months: it was launched in June 2023. Crystals of ritonavir, an antiviral drug used to treat HIV and hepatitis C, were grown on board the capsule.
This is interesting