Watching the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 is cool, but watching it from 30,000 feet in the air from the window seat of a United Airlines flight is even cooler.
A Birdseye View From The Window Seat Of A United Airlines Flight Of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX.
At 2:20 pm EST on Saturday, November 26, 2022, the Falcon 9 soared into space as NASA’s SpaceX 26th commercial resupply services mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The destination is the International Space Station (ISS). The mission brought 7,700 pounds of supplies to the ISS as well as equipment upgrades meant to make the space station more robust.
Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, both NASA astronauts, captured the Dragon spacecraft yesterday using a robotic arm from the ISS.
But the aviation-angle to this story is how Nick Leimbach caught the launch of Falcon 9 from his window seat on a United Airlines flight. On Saturday, Leimbach was traveling on UA220, from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Grand Cayman (GCM). While passing over Florida, he captured the following video:
One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Aboard @United Airlines 220 flying over Cape Canaveral as a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off. pic.twitter.com/klSqmbfPHt
— Nick Leimbach (@nleimbach) November 26, 2022
Talk about a bird’s eye view!
CONCLUSION
I live very close to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California and I love the rejuvenation of the US space program. We see many cool things from airplanes but watching the launch of a space mission has to be one of the coolest things and far better than any in-flight-entertainment on the screen.
image: @nleimbach / Twitter
A Jet Propulsion Lavatory? Now installing THAT on an AA MAX 8 would make for some fascinating clickbait posts.
You’ve given me my next headline! (I guess I did inadvertently)
Sorry, but there is a mistake in your article. Dragon nowadays does not get caught by a robotic arm but it docks autonomously.
Oh, good to know. Will update. Thanks.
Is it unusual that a commercial airline flight would be anywhere near the Kennedy Space Center with an active launch going on?
Scary to see this commercial flight so close to the launch area thought they closed airspace nearby..like when AF1 is in the area