FROM NASA: Visible from space, a smoke plume rises from the Manhattan area after two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center. This photo was taken of metropolitan New York City (and other parts of New York as well as New Jersey) the morning of September 11, 2001. “Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else,” said Station Commander Frank Culbertson of Expedition 3, after the terrorists’ attacks.
Upon further reflection, Culbertson said, “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.” [Source: NASA]
Click here to see Culbertson’s letter from September 11, 2001
Click Here to watch a video of Culbertson remembering 9/11 ten years later
I don’t know why, but this is seriously powerful to me. It just really shows the insignificance of any event on Earth to the grand schemes of the universe. And yet an event that we have no stake in, hundreds of miles away, can rock us to our cores. I just don’t know. Spooky stuff.
Nicely said Anonymous…you have a name or prefer not to share it?