Frank Culbertson’s 9/11 From Orbit

On September 11, 2001, astronaut Frank Culbertson was aboard the International Space Station when NASA told the crew that attacks were unfolding in the United States. As the ISS passed over the East Coast, he grabbed a camera and photographed the plume of smoke rising from Ground Zero in Manhattan. Looking down from orbit, he described New York as "bruised" and later wrote a letter reflecting on the tragedy and the friends he lost that day.

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