It’s cool to see the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch, but it’s even cooler to do it from a window seat on a United Airlines flight, 30,000 feet in the air.
The Falcon 9 launched into space from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on November 26, 2022. Using a robotic arm from the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann successfully captured the Dragon spacecraft yesterday.
However, the aviation side of this tale is how United Airlines passenger Nick Leimbach was able to watch the Falcon 9 launch from his window seat. Leimbach was taking UA220 on Saturday from Washington Dulles to Grand Cayman. He shot the video below as he was flying over Florida:
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched from Launch Complex 39A at 2:20 p.m. local time, carrying an unmanned Dragon spacecraft supplies and equipment to the ISS.
The Moon Microscope is a small piece of equipment that allows astronauts to gather and analyze blood samples. Their primary goal is to provide astronauts with a tool for blood analysis on the moon’s surface or Mars in the upcoming years.
Passengers on commercial aircraft don’t typically see this kind of often. Given Leimbach’s line of work, there’s a good chance the fact that he was present at the appropriate moment wasn’t just a matter of chance.
