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Guy in Airplane Gets Front Row Seat to Watch an Atlas V Rocket Blasting Off

If you get a window seat during a flight, usually, what you get to see are fluffy white clouds and stunning landscapes, including greenery, lakes, the ocean maybe, and more. Occasionally you might catch another plane flying at a safe distance, but what you won't expect to see are rockets taking off into space. That's a once-in-a-lifetime sight.
Passenger from Delta flight captures an Atlas V rocket blasting off into space 1 photo
Photo: Andy Lin via Twitter
On May 18th, at 1:37 p.m. EDT, an Atlas V rocket carrying the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO) Flight 5 mission for the U.S. Space Force took off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. One lucky passenger from a Delta flight 644 happened to capture the blast-off.

The fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit, or SBIRS GEO-5 for short, is the latest satellite built by aerospace company Lockheed Martin that joined the Space Force's orbiting missile warning constellation. This was the first launch for a satellite built on the company's modernized LM 2100 Combat Bus, an enhanced space vehicle that provides greater resiliency against growing threats, as well as improved spacecraft power, propulsion, and electronics.

And photographer Andy Lin was there to capture its 2,000 mph (3,219 kph) journey into orbit. It was a spectacle for both the crowd of onlookers from the coast and those on the Delta flight. Although, we reckon that the plane passengers had front-row seats to the event. It's not every day you see a rocket flying to space from your airplane window.

Currently, SBIRS GEO-5 has separated from the Atlas V rocket, and it is now orbiting the Earth using its own propulsion. As for the passengers that happened to be part of the flight from New York to Cancun on May 18th, they'll remember for sure this sight. Thanks to the video Andy took, we can also see the nearby takeoff, although it doesn't stand a chance to the in-person experience.

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About the author: Florina Spînu
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Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature.
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