When Stefanie Gordon boarded her plane in New York City to visit her parents in Palm Beach, the captain noted there was a chance passengers would witness the space shuttle Endeavour's last launch during the flight. But she never expected to play a role in documenting it. 
 
 As the plane descended toward Palm Beach and the Endeavour's launch became visible, Gordon pulled out her iPhone and snapped a few photos and a short video. On the ground, she posted one of the photos to her then 1,800 Twitter followers. 
 
 In a few hours, she was fielding phone calls from ABC, the BBC and CNBC. She had accumulated about 1,000 new Twitter followers, and she had to turn the @mention push notifications off on her phone so they wouldn't drain the battery. 
 
 "I don't have that many Twitter followers, and I basically tweet about sports," Gordon tells Mashable. "I really didn't expect it to go as viral as it did." 
 
 Although other people on the plane also took photos, the 33-year-old event planner says it seems that she's the only one who posted them to Twitter. 
 
 "To be able to see the last shuttle launch of the Endeavour was awe inspiring, and to have a different view of it was just amazing," she says. 
 
 The new Twitter friends aren't bad either. Gordon, who is looking for a job, recently tweeted her LinkedIn resume — just in case chance continues to work in her favor. ||||| Image copyright @sidaxmejicano/Twitter Image caption Claims that this man "Alfonso" was on Flight MS804 were false 
 
 When news of the missing EgyptAir flight emerged on Thursday morning people began sharing details of the unfolding story - but not everything was genuine. 
 
 Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished. 
 
 EgyptAir posted on Twitter that the plane had "disappeared from radar". 
 
 This prompted a response on social media from someone claiming to have a relative on board. 
 
 A Twitter user called "Perro" posted a photo purporting to be of his brother Alfonso, prompting several retweets from fellow users. 
 
 "My brother traveled (sic) there... please help me," he wrote. 
 
 But a Google reverse image search showed that the photograph had been used before online, and had been linked to a series of different Twitter handles. 
 
 'My mom was there' 
 
 One user distorted the same picture and tweeted: "My mom was on the plane. I'm afraid. Tell me what I have to do please." 
 
 Other Twitter users also claimed to have missing relatives using the hashtags #EgyptAir and #MS804. 
 
 The hoax posts came from Twitter accounts in Mexico and there is speculation they may have been linked to the same person. 
 
 Montel Williams tweeted: "It takes a sick and twisted person to fake having family aboard a crashed airplane. #MS804 @Support plz ban him." 
 
 It is unclear exactly where the photo is from and who the man pictured is, but it has been circulating online since December 2015, sometimes in reference to a dispute at a shopping centre in Mexico. 
 
 Ball of fire 
 
 As speculation grew over what happened to the EgyptAir flight more incorrect information was being shared. 
 
 A video on the website viral-videos.today claimed to show a ball of fire supposedly spotted by witnesses around the time the jet disappeared. 
 
 Image copyright viral-videos.today 
 
 The footage was tweeted by @githii with the post: "SAD.... A woman recorded this ball of fire in the sky, believed to be #EgyptAir #MS804". 
 
 It was also picked up and included in a news report by 7 News Sydney, which tweeted: "Residents of Greek Island claim they saw a ball of fire in the sky around the time #MS804 disappeared.@ChrisReason7" 
 
 But the fireball was in fact footage recorded last year in California. 
 
 Image copyright You Tube 
 
 The tweet has since been removed from 7 News Sydney's account.
– When Stefanie Gordon tweeted a picture she took from her airplane window, she never expected it to get her interview requests from just about every major news outlet and a retweet by NASA. But that’s exactly what happened—since Gordon happened to be on a flight to Palm Beach from which the Endeavour launch was visible. Gordon posted a few TwitPics and a video; next thing you know, she was fielding calls from reporters and had 1,000 new Twitter followers in a few hours. She tells Mashable other people on the plane took pictures, but apparently, she was the only one to tweet hers.