(CNN) Xavier Cummings works with rockets every day in his job as a NASA contractor, but he's never seen a launch like this.

Cummings was on a Southwest flight to Atlanta Friday morning, as he traveled to visit his sister in Ohio, when the Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing's Starliner spacecraft lifted off from Florida.

He knew the launch was scheduled, so he picked a window seat near the back of the plane and hoped for good luck.

"It was a 50-50 shot," he told CNN. "All my friends were outside watching it at work today and I thought, 'Just maybe I'll be able to see it from the air.'"

As they flew over Jacksonville, Florida, the pilot notified passengers the launch was about to happen, so they would not be alarmed.

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