Video shows the petrifying moment an astronaut witnessed the 9/11 horror from space.
- Space footage from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, was recently shared on TikTok.
- Frank Culbertson, the only American astronaut who witnessed the horror from space, talks about his chilling experience.
- The cosmonaut describes the scene as a “big grey blob enveloping southern Manhattan.”
Frank Culbertson was the only American astronaut who watched the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001, from space. At the time of the tragedy, he was on a mission inside the International Space Station with two Russian cosmonauts. They were around 250 miles above the planet.
As he looked down, the astronaut saw the chilling sight of enormous piles of smoke above New York. He soon notices the smoke was coming from the Twin Towers.
In 2014, Culbertson opened up about the traumatizing moment in the documentary film “Astronauts: Houston We Have a Problem.” As LADbible reports, the spaceman’s interview was recently shared on TikTok by a user nicknamed @footage_of_the_wtc.
@footage_of_the_wtc##southtowercollapses ##NEVERFORGET ##september11th2001 ##NEWYORK ##usa##🇺🇸 ##space ##firstresponders
The astronaut describes the scene as “a big black column of smoke coming out of the city.”
Culbertson explains:
“I raced around and found a video camera and a window facing in the right direction. The weather was perfectly clear that day.
I could easily see New York City – a big black column of smoke coming out of the city, and as I zoomed in with the video camera, I could see this big grey blob enveloping southern Manhattan.
What we were seeing was the second tower coming down.”
At first, the cosmonauts couldn’t understand what was going on. They found out about the terrorist attacks only after Culbertson called Earth for a routine medical check-up.
On the other side of the line, he was told: “Frank, we’re not having a very good day down here.”
Further in the footage, the spaceman can be heard saying from inside the space station:
“We can see New York City and the smoke from the fires. Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there and everywhere else.
Here I’m looking up and down the East Coast to see if I can see anything else.
I just want the folks in New York to know that their city still looks very beautiful from space.”
Thankfully, NASA was able to arrange a phone call with Culbertson’s wife later that day. He was happy to hear from his family and learn that they were unharmed by the attacks. The astronaut shares:
“It is an isolated feeling to know that you can’t be with your loved ones to make sure they’re safe. NASA did arrange a phone call with my wife that evening. It felt good to talk to her to know she was okay and the kids were okay.”