25 years of 9/11 attacks: When a NASA astronaut experienced the horror as the only American in space

25 years ago today, the world was shaken by the most lethal terrorist attack in the history of the United States. On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes that struck New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people. The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were the worst hit as two planes crashed into them, taking the lives of more than 2,700 people. One other plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, killing 184 people, and the fourth crashed into an open field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after the passengers fought the hijackers. All 33 passengers and seven crew members, along with the four hijackers, were killed in the Pennsylvania crash, along with those of the other three planes. 

While the attack had stunned people on the ground, the scenes were also horrifying from space. We have the best account of the events as seen from space, courtesy of NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson—the only American who was not on Earth at the time. He was aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as Expedition 3 commander when the tragedy took place, and what followed jolted his psyche. Culbertson had just wrapped up a series of tasks that morning when the flight surgeon broke the news from the ground. Finding it hard to believe, he scrambled to find a view of New York City and found thick smoke covering Manhattan when the station passed over Ground Zero.  

“The smoke seemed to have an odd bloom to it at the base of the column that was streaming south of the city. After reading one of the news articles we just received, I believe we were looking at NY around the time of, or shortly after, the collapse of the second tower. How horrible…,” Culbertson wrote in a letter. Culbertson recalled he and his crewmates also saw a haze over Washington but couldn’t find a specific source for it. 

As the hours passed by, he received more news from the ground, including one that involved his classmate from the US Naval Academy. In a follow-up letter the next day, he wrote, "I felt sure I would receive at least a few pieces of bad news over the next few days. I got the first one today when I learned that the Captain of the American Airlines jet that hit the Pentagon was Chic Burlingame, a classmate of mine.” 

“I can’t imagine what he must of gone through, and now I hear that he may have risen further than we can even think of by possibly preventing his plane from being the one to attack the White House. What a terrible loss, but I’m sure Chic was fighting bravely to the end. And tears don’t flow the same in space,” he further wrote, remembering his classmate. 

Culbertson, in his letter, also reflected on being the only American in space when his fellow countrymen were reeling from this devastating crisis. “It’s difficult to describe how it feels to be the only American completely off the planet at a time such as this. The feeling that I should be there with all of you, dealing with this, helping in some way, is overwhelming,” sadly predicting that many things will never be the same again, including space exploration.

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