Twin Towers burning, from the space station/NASA
As America pauses to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the only American not on Planet Earth that horrific day spoke eloquently of the shock and pain of witnessing from above.
"Tears don't flow in space," Commander Frank Culbertson, then-commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 3 crew, said. Culbertson had been launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on August 10.
On August 12, the shuttle docked with the ISS. Culbertson's companions after the shuttle left on August 20 were two Russian cosmonauts, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Nikolaevich Dezhurov, Soyuz Commander, and Mikhail Tyurin, Flight Engineer.
They and the link to Mission Control back home in Houston were what sustained Culbertson as the crew witnessed and filmed the devastation as Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. The photo to the right was taken by Culbertson as the space station overflew New York City.
"It's difficult to describe how it feels to be the only American completely off the planet at a time such as this," Culbertson told ground controllers. As the tragedy unfolded, Culbertson learned that a friend of his had been flying Flight 93 when its heroic crew and passengers forced its early crash in Pennsylvania, diverting it from another attack in Washington, D.C. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
Culbertson spoke poignantly of exhaustion and a sense of isolation. He kept reporting their observations, including a "haze" over Washington, D.C., and the "odd bloom" of the smoke rising from the Twin Towers.
NASA was determined that the agency would find a way to honor the victims of 9-11. Then-NASA Administrator Dan Goldin launched the "Flags for Heroes and Families" program.
The crew of mission STS-108 aboard Endeavour carried 6,000 smaill American flags into space. Also aboard: a U.S. flag found at the World Trade Center site after the attacks, a U.S. flag that had flown above the Pennsylvania state capitol, a U.S. Marine Corps Colors flag from the Pentagon, a New York Fire Department flag, and a poster that included photographs of firefighters lost in the attacks.
On Dec. 9, the shuttle and ISS crews paused for a memorial to those who had been lost. It was an emotional ceremony.
The flag found in the Twin Towers rubble "....has a few tears in it. You can still smell the ashes," Endeavour commander Commander Dominic L. Gorie (Captain, USN) said Culbertson returned home with Gorie and the rest of the Endeavour crew.
Also returning home: the 6,000 flags. NASA later mounted them on specially-designed memorial certificates and presented them to the survivors and families of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
NASA also deployed scientists and resources, including satellite tracking, to help monitor and analyze the environmental effects of the huge smoke and debris clouds from the destruction.
This is the video Culbertson shot and his message to the folks back home.
Note: the text of this column was originally published on September 11, 2008.
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