Sept. 11 Attacks: How the Twin Towers Attack in New York Was Seen From the Space

"Tears do not flow in the same way in space."

This is one of the poignant conclusions that American astronaut Frank Culbertson wrote after being sent to the US Space Agency. (NASA) This photo was taken shortly after the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 in New York.

Captain Culbertson was the commander of Expedition 3 of the International Space Station (ISS) that tragic day and, although he was not alone aboard the ship, as he was sharing a crew with the Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Turin, He was the only American in the space.

In your image, you can see two huge black fumaroles Driven by the wind to the south of the island of Manhattan, where once rested the two 110-story office towers of the World Trade Center (WTC), the city's financial center.

That morning, 15 years ago, at 8:46 am (12:46 GMT), American Airlines Flight 11 had been crashed by pirates of the air against the north tower of the WTC.

The plane was flying at 700 km / h, carrying 92 pbadengers and nine crew members on board.

At 9:03 (13:03 GMT), 18 minutes later, the south tower was hit by United Airlines flight 175, at floors 77-85, at a speed of 540 km / h.

The pbadengers of the two planes are just some of the nearly 3,000 victims who left the badaults and the destruction of towers that then collapsed when the fire melted their structures.

The events of this day were a series of coordinated attacks by the Al Qaeda group, which have left more than 6,000 injured and property losses of $ 10,000 million.

"I caught the closest camera"

The IEE is a space research center orbiting the Earth since 1998.

It is managed by a program of cooperation between five space agencies, including NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (FKA).

In 2001, the IEE did not have access to live television or the Internet, but Culbertson could see on the map, after a radio conference with NASA's medical team on Earth, that she was crossing Canada and that she would be flying soon. about New York.

"I went through the ISS in its entirety until I found a window that allowed me to see New York and grab the nearest camera," Culbertson writes in a letter sent to NASA the day after the attacks.

"We were turning to New York at the moment or shortly after the collapse of the second tower – it's horrible."said the astronaut about when he took the picture.

"It's horrible to see smoke coming out of the plight of the country itself from this privileged view.The dichotomy of living in a spaceship dedicated to improving life on Earth and seeing life destroyed by such intentional acts shake the psyche, no matter who you are, " Culbertson shared, seeing the row of smoke rising from the WTC destroyed.

"In addition to the emotional impact of our country and the thousands of citizens attacked, and perhaps with deceased friends, being where I am is the most overwhelming feeling of isolation," said the Astronaut who went to space three times, remains 129 days aboard the IEE.

"The world has changed today, what it says or does is very small compared to the significance of what happened in our country when it was attacked."

Astronauts and disasters on Earth

The ISS travels 16 times a day to Earth. It is a remote observation platform that collects information about the Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere.

And part of the astronaut's duties aboard the ship – which vary between three and six, and are replaced every semester – This is to help monitor events on Earth.

"In the IEE, we receive reports of the Earth and We are part of the International Disaster Charter (IDC)So, in space, astronauts must take pictures of events that affect the Earth, "explained the American astronaut Kjell Lindgren at BBC World, during a conversation this week at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York.

"We are taking pictures to help those who work in disasters on Earth," says Lindgren, which was part of the ISS 44 and 45 expeditions, between June and December 2015.

"It's very moving to see tragedies in space. See for example natural disasters is difficult. Just imagine the destruction, the people who are going to die, especially because can not do anything to stop it"says NASA's astronaut.

"Watch the fires, the big fumaroles of space, think of firefighters who lose their lives trying to extinguish them … even if they are so far away," says Lindgren.

"You develop a personal connection with these events because you feel that you are part of it – it's very rewarding to be able to help," he concludes.

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, NASA 's scientific air monitoring programs were also activated to deploy airborne sensors to detect pollutants.

The Pentagon attack

In addition to the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers that morning, two more planes were hijacked and crashed that day.

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in the state of Pennsylvania as pbadengers attempted to regain control of the ship. The 37 pbadengers and seven crew members died.

A fourth plane crashed into one of the largest office buildings in the world: the Pentagon, headquarters of the US Department of Defense.

At 9:37, The American Airlines flight 77 crashed at 530 km / h against the Pentagon, killing 64 pbadengers and their crewas well as 125 civilians and soldiers who worked in the building on the outskirts of Washington.

"There was a fog on Washington but you could not see any specific source," wrote Culbertson in the first part of the letter, written on September 11th.

The next day, he shared devastating news.

"I knew that the captain of the American Airlines plane that had hit the Pentagon was a clbadmate (Burlesame) (Burlesame). I met him for a summer and we had had a lot of clbades together, "said the disastrous astronaut.

"I'm sure Chic's bravely defeated until the end. And tears do not flow in the same way in space.

Article originally published on September 11, 2016