Now we know what re-entry looks like.

[Whirligig Girl]

The re-entry effects (aesthetically) are a result of a look of space artwork, and figuring what looks best from an artistic perspective.

Now we know what shock heating looks like from the outside. And WOW. The view is stupendous. It's by no means a close-up look of re-entry, but it's a real effect and it looks a heck of a lot different than KSP's shock-heating effects.

So now we know what the re-entry effects actually look like. Perhaps as we get better engine effects and the like, the re-entry effects can be changed.

EDIT: Then there's this:

So we know what it looks like from the inside. Again, it looks drastically different in KSP.

Edited February 7, 2015 by GregroxMun

[Sampa]

I don't think that this a the best look at the reentry effects...not in the way you want. At best, it shows a 3rd person perspective to a craft/debris burning up. Another 3rd person view of the same effects is the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia (Rest in Peace).

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

That would be amazing to be added. +1 to the suggestion

Also, people where subject to that, but worse. Amazing

[Whirligig Girl]

I don't think that this a the best look at the reentry effects...not in the way you want. At best, it shows a 3rd person perspective to a craft/debris burning up. Another 3rd person view of the same effects is the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia (Rest in Peace).

That view was nowhere near as good, and at any rate, If you just take it logically, if you put yourself in the perspective of the spacecraft, you would definitely see things much differently than a KSP craft.

[Sampa]

true, but I look at things more logically than that...if you want to have a realistic effects with the craft surviving, lets watch a craft reentering and survive. For the craft breaking up, here is a good example.

[CaptainKipard]

Isn't controlled entry different from things burning up?

[Sampa]

Isn't controlled entry different from things burning up?

my point exactly.

[CaptainKipard]

Like, were the Apollo 13 movie entry effects just for show? It made it look like a meteor basically.

[pizzaoverhead]

With regards to craft undergoing a controlled entry:

"(21 July 2011) --- This unprecedented view of the space shuttle Atlantis, appearing like a bean sprout against clouds and city lights, on its way home, was photographed by the Expedition 28 crew of the International Space Station. Airglow over Earth can be seen in the background."

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018177.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018188.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018199.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018217.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018218.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018221.html

There's also this image of a Perseid meteor. Note the expanding tail flare:

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS028&roll=E&frame=24847

Edited February 5, 2015 by pizzaoverhead

[Sampa]

With regards to craft undergoing a controlled entry:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/hires/iss028e018218.jpg

"(21 July 2011) --- This unprecedented view of the space shuttle Atlantis, appearing like a bean sprout against clouds and city lights, on its way home, was photographed by the Expedition 28 crew of the International Space Station. Airglow over Earth can be seen in the background."

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018177.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018188.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018199.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018217.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018218.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-28/html/iss028e018221.html

There's also this image of a Perseid meteor. Note the expanding tail flare:

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/DatabaseImages/ESC/large/ISS028/ISS028-E-24847.JPG

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS028&roll=E&frame=24847

THANK you, THAT was what I was trying to get at. I agree that the reentry effect in game are not the greatest and I think that if they could make the heat effects look more liquid in effects.

[Whirligig Girl]

Now this: