As NASA’s Artemis II Orion continues the world’s first moonshot mission in more than half a century, a series of unusual videos of the rocket blasting away from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida have been orbiting the web, after passengers aboard various flights arriving and departing Florida shared their bird’s eye view of the historic lift-off.
Four astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and from the Canadian Space Agency, Jeremy Hansen, will be at the point of lunar fly-by at the time of publication, having left Earth at 6:35 pm ET on Wednesday 1 April 2026 for a record-breaking trip that will take them further than any human has ever gone from Earth.
The crew each represent a pioneering moment for human space travel: Glover became the first person of colour, Hansen the first non–US citizen, Koch the first woman, and Wiseman the oldest person to go beyond low Earth orbit and approach the Moon. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman described them as “remarkable explorers” undertaking “a true test mission that will carry them farther and faster than any humans in a generation.”
Crowds of onlookers and well-wishers estimated to number around 400,000 have filled hotels and RV sites, bringing approximately €10 million to the local economy. They gathered on Florida’s so-called Space Coast to witness the spectacle as the most powerful Space Launch System (SLS) ever deployed sent the astronauts on their way.
Meanwhile passengers on board a Southwest Airlines aircraft were treated to a view of the launch from the air, with a clip circulating online showing the spacecraft as a glowing ball rising quickly into the sky, trailed by a column of “smoke” made up of water vapour and boiling cryogenics.
Videos taken from other vantage points on the commercial aircraft showed the rocket continuing its trajectory into orbit against a blue sky, while passengers can be heard exclaiming.
For Easter, the spacecraft’s pilot Glover sent a special message to everyone following the mission. “You guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe,” he said. “Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you. And I’m trying to tell you — just trust me — you are special.”
Artemis II takeoff captured from a commercial plane.. pic.twitter.com/nFuNlgrzGH
— CMNS_Media✍🏻 (@1SanatanSatya) April 1, 2026
He continued with a moving call for unity: “In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together,” he said, of planet Earth. “I think, as we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we’ve gotta get through this together.”
