Members of the UNF community gathered both at Cape Canaveral and on the university\u2019s Jacksonville campus to watch the spacecraft lift off.<\/p>\n
UNF interim President Angela Falconetti and Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Patterson watched the launch from a special viewing area at NASA. <\/p>\n
Falconetti praised Delaney\u2019s achievement following the launch. \u201cUNF alumnus and pilot of NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-13 mission Luke Delaney is a shining inspiration to the University community he orbits over today,\u201d Falconetti said. \u201cWatching the launch from the stands was the thundering thrill of a lifetime for me as UNF president and for Provost Patterson. Your Osprey family wishes you a successful mission and happy landings, Luke!\u201d<\/p>\n
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n UNF SpaceX Dragon Watch Party Pilot is UNF alum Luke Delaney (Credit: University of North Florida)<\/p>\n On campus, dozens of students, faculty and staff gathered in UNF\u2019s Science and Engineering building to watch the broadcast. Dr. Alexandra Schonning, a mechanical engineering professor at UNF who previously taught Delaney, attended the gathering. \u201cLuke was great to have in class,\u201d Schonning said. \u201cHe was always pleasant, sharp and well prepared, an all-around good student. It\u2019s joyful and emotional to watch because Luke is an inspiration for our students. It\u2019s nice to see our Ospreys fly high.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Jack Hewitt, physics professor and department chair, brought his wife and 9-year-old daughter to watch the launch on campus. \u201cI really hope this inspires our students in physics, engineering, biology and other sciences that they too can end up working for NASA and possibly piloting a mission to space one day,\u201d Hewitt said.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>]<\/p>\n UNF SpaceX Dragon Watch Party Pilot is UNF alum Luke Delaney (Credit: University of North Florida)<\/p>\n Delaney grew up in DeBary, near Cape Canaveral. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served for 22 years as a naval aviator. After earning his bachelor\u2019s degree from UNF in 2006, Delaney completed a master\u2019s degree in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.<\/p>\n Following his retirement from the Marine Corps in 2020, Delaney worked as a research pilot and aerospace engineer at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. NASA selected him as an astronaut candidate in 2021.<\/p>\n After reaching the space station, the crew will conduct a brief handover with astronauts from NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-12 mission. The Crew-12 crew is expected to begin its return flight to Earth around Monday, Oct. 5. <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 University of North Florida alumnus Luke Delaney launched into space on Thursday from Cape Canaveral,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[42386,9177,18462,16293,52634,164772,4545,134315,44483,2888,30310,116,118,117,136874,9058,11969,48510,108436,992,666,64287,2899,2956,3384,96233,1953,164],"class_list":["post-416063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-42386","tag-accessories","tag-adult","tag-bag","tag-clothing","tag-delaney-launch-watch-party","tag-face","tag-glasses","tag-handbag","tag-happy","tag-head","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jeans","tag-jewelry","tag-nasa","tag-necklace","tag-pants","tag-people","tag-person","tag-shirt","tag-smile","tag-student","tag-students","tag-t-shirt","tag-teen","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/cmg\/3NLMMC4KHBFNBPDSL4XPXK63Y4.jpg\")
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