Lufthansa pilots snap Principia launch from the skies

As they cruise 10 km above our planet, airline pilots have some of the best ‘office views’ available (after astronauts possibly). During the Principia launch on 15 December, Lufthansa pilots Michael Schwarz and Frank Barma were lucky enough to see the launch of Tim Peake, Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchenko from the cockpit. They managed to snap these pictures of the Soyuz rocket ascending to space.

All rocket launches are coordinated with flight controllers who redirect aircraft traffic to keep at a safe distance. At the time these pictures were taken, Lufthansa flight LH 713 was above Russia, approx 100 km east from Novosibirsk. The Boeing 747 was enroute from Seoul to Frankfurt.