On September 11, 2001, NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), photographed a massive plume of smoke rising from New York City following the 9/11 attacks. He was the only American not on Earth at the time.
The attacks began when members of al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger airliners. Two of these planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, causing both 110-story skyscrapers to collapse roughly 17 minutes apart. A third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back against the hijackers. A total of 2,977 people were killed in the attacks, according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Culbertson photographed the smoke plume from approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. He noted an “odd bloom” around the base of the smoke column, which he believed indicated the image was taken around the time of, or shortly after, the collapse of the second tower. In the days following the attacks, Culbertson wrote letters detailing his unique perspective. “It’s horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point,” he wrote on September 13. “The dichotomy of being on a spacecraft dedicated to improving life on the earth and watching life being destroyed by such willful, terrible acts is jolting to the psyche.”
Culbertson also learned that Charles “Chic” Burlingame, a former flight school classmate, was the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. When the ISS passed over the Pentagon, the astronauts were able to see the damage.
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