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Home » United Airlines » Cool: A Birdseye View Of The SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch From A United Airlines Flight
United Airlines

Cool: A Birdseye View Of The SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch From A United Airlines Flight

Matthew Klint Posted onNovember 28, 2022November 13, 2023 6 Comments

an airplane wing and a city

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

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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6 Comments

  1. MeanMeosh Reply
    November 28, 2022 at 9:44 am

    A Jet Propulsion Lavatory? Now installing THAT on an AA MAX 8 would make for some fascinating clickbait posts.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 28, 2022 at 1:54 pm

      You’ve given me my next headline! (I guess I did inadvertently)

  2. Tom Moerel Reply
    November 28, 2022 at 10:24 am

    Sorry, but there is a mistake in your article. Dragon nowadays does not get caught by a robotic arm but it docks autonomously.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 28, 2022 at 10:55 am

      Oh, good to know. Will update. Thanks.

  3. Tony Carlfeldt Reply
    November 28, 2022 at 7:57 pm

    Is it unusual that a commercial airline flight would be anywhere near the Kennedy Space Center with an active launch going on?

  4. DEE Reply
    November 29, 2022 at 8:47 pm

    Scary to see this commercial flight so close to the launch area thought they closed airspace nearby..like when AF1 is in the area

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