How neat would it be to see a space shuttle launch before your eyes during your jet charter or plane ride? American Airlines pilot Lorriebird was in flight from Miami to Montreal when she saw space shuttle Endeavour lift off from below. She commented, “I am an airline pilot and today was in the right place at the absolute perfect time. We were at 37,000 feet and were the closest commercial aircraft to the launch site at liftoff. Truly an amazingly lucky view of a lifetime!”
The Endeavour blast off at 8:56am on May 16,2011 with a crew of six astronauts for NASA’s next-to-last shuttle mission. It had its maiden voyage 19 years ago in May, and this marks its 25th flight, as well as the final launch for the Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A.
The Endeavour’s final mission is to deliver a $2 billion cosmic ray detector to the space station. The shuttle is also stocked with a pallet of large spare parts that will help keep the outpost operating until at least 2020.
