Patterico's Pontifications

9/10/2011

“Tears Don’t Flow the Same in Space;” An Astronaut’s 9-11

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 3:32 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.  Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.]

Via Hot Air, we get this powerful account of what it was like to look down on Manhattan, on 9-11, on the International Space Station:

“I zipped around the station until I found a window that would give me a view of NYC and grabbed the nearest camera,” Culbertson wrote. “The smoke seemed to have an odd bloom to it at the base of the column that was streaming south of the city. After reading one of the news articles we just received, I believe we were looking at NY around the time of, or shortly after, the collapse of the second tower. How horrible.”

Yeah, read the whole thing and remember who died that day.

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

6 Responses to ““Tears Don’t Flow the Same in Space;” An Astronaut’s 9-11”

  1. That’s just devastating on several levels. Not least that the one American in space on 9/11 knew one of the pilots of the plane that was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon.

    Jim S. (14c7a5)

  2. and remember who died that day

    I remember who died that day. Friends of mine. LCDR Dan Shanower at the Pentagon, and Bob Penninger. A defense contractor on AA77, the flight that hit the Pentagon.

    I remember the fact the CO of my reserve unit did a phone muster that day. I remember the hint of a promise, which I eagerly accepted, that I’d be mobilized (didn’t happen until November 2001).

    I remember thinking, somewhat regretfully, as I saw what was going on in New York and Washington, “Oh, yeah. We are going to have to kill a hell of a lot of people.”

    I remember that conviction being reinforced when I saw TV news reports from Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, and other parts of North Africa and the ME as people celebrated. Women were ululating, men were proudly proclaiming “bullseye,” shopkeepers were passing out candies and other sweets.

    Once again, “Oh yeah, we are going to have to kill a hell of a lot of people.” Now feeling really good about it.

    What I don’t remember are tears.

    Sorry, I guess I’m out-of-step with the modern American clinical culture where “tragedies” that just kinda-sorta happen need to be dealt with via drugs and grief counseling.

    Personally, I think acts of war need to be dealt with differently.

    Steve (4b1889)

  3. That smoke plume contains much of what was, and was in, those two buildings. This perspective on it emphasizes the event’s global significance. It’s a very moving photograph, as powerful as those of the airliners hitting the towers or those who fell/jumped.

    Beldar (42c763)

  4. I awoke to the sounds of my clock radio at 0555PT on that day, to a news break-in on the regular programing that a plane had crashed into one of the WTC towers.
    I had a “WTF is up with that” moment, and turned on the TV, which held me riveted until about 0730 when I decided I’d better get ready to go to work – for which I was already late.
    Upon arriving, I mentioned to the Boss, who owned the 5-story building that we worked in on the 5th-floor, that he now owned a building taller than the WTC – he had been there in the lab since 0530, and had not heard a thing. The look on his face told me that he thought I was crazy.
    I mirror Steve’s reaction above, knowing that a lot more people on the other side were going to die before this situation would be settled.
    Very few of our historic opponents understand the Jacksonian-nature that underlies the American psyche – the IslamoFascists of the World were about to be jerked into Reality, and out of the 11th-Century.

    Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (ff6763)

  5. I was 11 at the time.

    DohBiden (d54602)

  6. I was on my way home from voting against Bloomberg in the R primary when I heard the news about the first crash.

    Milhouse (ea66e3)


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