A post about a lucky plane passenger who caught a glimpse of Wednesday’s historic launch of the Artemis II moon mission from the sky has gone viral on Reddit.
An image of the scene was posted on Reddit by and has since garnered 61,000 upvotes. The title of the post says: “We could see the Artemis II launch from my flight today [April 1].” The image posted features a view of a trail from the rocket seen through the plane window.
In a later comment, the poster noted: “It was truly an awe inspiring experience! I was completely unaware of the launch until I listened to The Daily [a podcast] this morning. Even then, it didn’t cross my mind that it would be at the same time as my flight.”
The poster added: “It was a once in a lifetime moment. Everyone on the plane was looking out the window trying to catch a glimpse of the rocket. It felt like the stories shared by folks who were alive during the 1960s about their experiences witnessing the moon landing.”
On April 1, NASA launched Artemis II, a landmark mission that will send four astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, marking a major step in the space agency’s long‑term plan to bring humans back to the moon.
NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft on a planned test flight around the moon and back, according to a statement from NASA.
The mission will carry the astronauts “farther and faster than any humans in a generation,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the statement. “Artemis II is the start of something bigger than any one mission. It marks our return to the Moon, not just to visit, but to eventually stay on our Moon Base, and lays the foundation for the next giant leaps ahead,” he added.
The latest launch marked the beginning of a space mission that will last approximately 10 days. “As the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program…the flight will demonstrate life support systems for the first time with crew and lay the foundation for an enduring presence on the Moon ahead of future missions to Mars,” NASA said.
The spacecraft was expected to remain in “high Earth orbit” for around a day, as the crew tests Orion’s handling capabilities. A “translunar injection burn” will be initiated on April 2, which will “send the spacecraft on a trajectory that will simultaneously carry crew around the Moon, while also harnessing lunar gravity to slingshot them back to Earth,” NASA explained on Wednesday.
During a planned multi-hour “lunar flyby” on April 6, the astronauts will take photographs and make observations of the moon’s surface as “the first people to lay eyes on some areas of the far side,” NASA noted.
The space agency explained: “Although the lunar far side will only be partially illuminated during the flyby, the conditions should create shadows that stretch across the surface, enhancing relief and revealing depth, ridges, slopes and crater rims that are often difficult to detect under full illumination.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
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