Soyuz Video Shows Wild Ride Astronauts Experience Inside Russian Space Capsule

If you thought the movie "Gravity" was intense, then get ready for the real thing to blow you away.

The video above shows what it's really like to return to Earth from the International Space Station. Released Nov. 11 by the European Space Agency, the video features landing footage and interviews with former astronauts to give an insider's look at the undocking, reentry, and landing of the Soyuz capsule. Get ready for a bumpy ride.

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Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli describes his experience re-entering Earth's atmosphere:

Seen from the inside of the spacecraft, it felt like there was somebody out there outside the spacecraft with a sledgehammer who was hammering here and there, up and down. And so every few milliseconds, the spacecraft was shaking. There's a 'BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!' It felt really interesting, actually.

The video comes on the heels of the Nov. 10 Soyuz landing, which brought two astronauts, a cosmonaut, and the Olympic torch back from the ISS.

Video credits: Produced by the ESA Human Spaceflight and Operations (HSO) Astronaut Training Division, Cologne, Germany, in collaboration with the HSO Strategic Planning and Outreach Office, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, with special support from Roskosmos.

Narration Voice: Bernard Oattes

Technical Experts: Stephane Ghiste, Dmitriy Churkin (HSO-UT)

Content Design: Stephane Ghiste, Dmitriy Churkin, Raffaele Castellano, Matthew Day (HSO-UT)

Animation & Video Editing: Raffaele Castellano (HSO-UT), HSO-K

Project Coordination: Matthew Day, Stephane Ghiste, Dmitriy Churkin (HSO-UT)

Special thanks to:
Martin Schweiger (Orbiter software: http://orbit/medphys.ucl.ac.uk/)
Nikita Vtyurin, Andrew Thielmann (Orbiter Soyuz model)
Lionel Ferra (HSO-UT)
Oleg Polovnikov (HSO-UT)
Frank De Winne (HSO-A)
Paolo Nespoli (HSO-A)
Antonio Rodenas Bosque (HSO-UT)
NASA
ROSCOSMOS
S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
Aerospace Search and Rescue Service of the Russian Federation

Parachute footage: Cambridge University Spaceflight

Surfer footage: copyright Red Bull Media House

Footage from inside Soyuz capsule courtesy of RSC Energia has limited rights:

a) These data are submitted with Limited Rights under Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America concerning co-operation on the civil International Space Station.

These data may be used by the receiving co-operating agency and its contractors and subcontractors, provided that such data shall be used, duplicated or disclosed only for the following purposes, which are related to the Cooperating Agency Space Station Program for ISS:
1) Use for ESA astronaut training
2) Use for educational purposes
These data shall not be used by persons or entities other than the receiving Cooperating Agency, its contractors or subcontractors, or for any other purposes, without the prior written permission of the furnishing partner state, acting through its cooperating agency.