A new video recorded earlier this month shows what it would be like as an astronaut inside NASA's Orion capsule as it enters into Earth's atmosphere when it returns from deep-space destinations on the journey to Mars.

Among the first data to be removed from Orion following its unmanned Dec. 5 test flight was video recorded through windows on Orion's crew module. Although much of the video was transmitted down to Earth and shown in real time, it was not available in its entirety.

Also, the blackout caused by the superheated plasma surrounding the vehicle as it endured the peak temperatures of its descent prevented downlink of any information at that key point. However, the cameras were able to record the view, and now the public can have an up-close look at the extreme environment a spacecraft experiences as it travels back through Earth's environment from beyond low-Earth orbit.

The video begins 10 minutes before Orion's 11:29 a.m. splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, just as the spacecraft was beginning to experience Earth's atmosphere. Peak heating from the friction caused by the atmosphere rubbing against Orion's heat shield comes less than two minutes later, and the footage shows the plasma created by the interaction change from white to yellow to lavender to magenta as the temperature increases.

The camera continues to record the deployment of the series of parachutes that slowed the capsule to 20 mph for landing in the ocean.

Orion's flight test was a critical step on NASA's journey to Mars. Work already has begun on the next Orion capsule, which will launch for the first time on top of NASA's new Space Launch System rocket and travel to a distant retrograde orbit around the moon.