Australia’s travel ban may have no end in sight, with borders mostly closed until the middle of next year. But about 180 lucky people got to take a Qantas Airways flight on Wednesday — to 43,000 feet above Sydney and back — to get what were possibly the best views of the “super blood moon.” (Tickets sold out in three minutes.) The rare astronomical event of a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse happening at once meant that moon appeared bigger than usual while turning a blood red color against the night’s sky because of its position in the Earth’s shadow. Airlines, hit hard by the slump in travel during the pandemic, have offered flights to nowhere over the past year, giving passengers a chance to get out to town without defying any travel restrictions.

Source: New York Times May 27, 2021 15:22 UTC