9/11 attack as viewed from space

Shot from the International Space Station on the morning of September 11, 2001.   Here a smoke plume rises from the Manhattan area after two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center.   

“The world changed today. What I say or do is very minor compared to the significance of what happened to our country today when it was attacked,” said Station Commander Frank Culbertson in a letter he penned on Sept. 12.   “It’s horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point. 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, no matter who you are.”