Scott Poteet, a member of SpaceX’s recent Polaris Dawn mission, has offered a vivid description of the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s fiery return to Earth. He was responding to a breathtaking photograph captured by NASA astronaut Don Pettit from the International Space Station (ISS), showing the Crew Dragon during its rapid descent. The photograph captures the dramatic moment at the end of a historic five-day mission, which included the first privately funded spacewalk.
Poteet, in a social media post, described the plasma surrounding the spacecraft as “insanely bright.” “Began as a purple/pink hue and slowly progressed into bright flickering flames,” he wrote, “Lasted throughout blackout for a solid 8 min. Image I’ll never forget.” This plasma occurs as temperatures around the vehicle soar, causing air molecules to break apart, resulting in a luminous, electrically charged plasma that the crew could see through the windows.
Another astronaut aboard the ISS, Matthew Dominick, also shared his perspective, describing the excitement of seeing the Crew Dragon from orbit. “It was awesome to be scanning the horizon for awhile from our spacecraft looking for another spacecraft and then to be able to call ‘visual’ on your spacecraft streaking through the atmosphere,” Dominick wrote. “We all saw you unaided. We were traveling SE from about Arkansas to Florida while you were traveling NE from the Yucatán Peninsula to Florida. 90 degree merge right to left from our perspective. We are guessing you were ‘blind’ with the plasma streaking past your windows.”
Pettit captured his incredible photograph of the Crew Dragon from the Cupola, a module on the ISS that boasts seven windows offering panoramic views of Earth and beyond. He used a Nikon Z9 camera with a 200mm lens to capture the shot, which shows the Dragon capsule’s distinctive cone shape, with the multi-colored entry trail visible over Florida. The reentry of the Crew Dragon capsule, as described by Poteet and witnessed by astronauts on the ISS, underscores the incredible feats of engineering and the breathtaking experiences of space travel.
