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- UCF likes to call itself ‘SpaceU’ and for good reason.
- The view of NASA rocket launches from the Knights’ football stadium is truly gorgeous.
- Click HERE for more college football coverage!
During the early hours of Wednesday morning, SpaceX and NASA made history. Jessica Watkins became the first-ever Black woman to launch into space for a long-term mission aboard the international space station.
while you slept, Jessica Watkins โ the first ever Black woman who will serve on a long-term mission aboard the @Space_Station โ launched into space as part of #Crew4. Sheโs 33-years-old, from Gaithersburg, and an American hero ๐บ๐ธ @SpaceX @NASA pic.twitter.com/7SRJ4KGDpJ
— j.d. durkin (@jd_durkin) April 27, 2022
Watkins, Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Samantha Cristoforetti will spend six months on the space station.
The space station is ready to receive the #Crew4 astronauts! We'll be live on NASA TV with continuous coverage. Milestones to follow:
๐ 3:52 a.m.: Launch
๐ฐ๏ธ ~8:15 p.m.: Docking to the space station
๐บ Watch: https://t.co/cBNqC5JGaz pic.twitter.com/d2zC0tB8Ts— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 27, 2022
They began their journey just after midnight on the east coast and made their way out onto the launchpad.
The four #Crew4 astronauts walk out from the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building at @NASAKennedy ahead of their journey to the launchpad: pic.twitter.com/ocyKNVedJE
— NASA (@NASA) April 27, 2022
From there, members of “Crew-4” loaded into a new Crew Dragon spacecraft dubbed ‘Freedom.’ It is the fourth operational crew launched by SpaceX to the space station under a contract with NASA.
The California-based SpaceX team launched the mission from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 3:52am PT on Wednesday morning.
Freedom takes flight! Three @NASA_Astronauts and one @ESA astronaut lifted off from @NASAKennedy aboard the @SpaceX Dragon Freedom. #Crew4's expected arrival time at the @Space_Station is about 15.5 hours from now. pic.twitter.com/hmIX8dNlWd
— NASA (@NASA) April 27, 2022
Just about an hour away from the SpaceX Crew-4 launch, the view from the University of Central Florida was remarkable.
UCF has close ties to NASA and considers itself the “future of space exploration.” As a result, it has dubbed itself ‘SpaceU’ and plays an annual football game with space-themed uniforms that always bring the heat.
In addition to its classroom connection to outer space and NASA, the football program has a pretty incredible relationship. The way that the team’s stadium, known as ‘The Bounce House,’ is positioned makes it so launches at Cape Canaveral happen just beyond the 50-yard-line.
When a rocket takes off into the sky, it makes for a truly spectacular image, as it did on Wednesday.
Our #Crew4 view from #SpaceU ๐โจ pic.twitter.com/F9qoH8yVEu
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) April 27, 2022
This, of course, is not the first launch that has happened in Florida. Thus, it is not the first breath-taking image from The Bounce House.
SpaceXโs #Crew2 launched from the Kennedy Space Center this morning.
The view from @UCF_Footballโs Bounce House stadium is incredible ๐ pic.twitter.com/QQULk6psUU
— BroBible (@BroBible) April 23, 2021
Although there was not a game being played, there is not better 50-yard-line view in the entire country.