Smoke From New York Visible From Space Station and Satellite

On Tuesday, cowardly, faceless terrorists attacked innocent American citizens. Most of us are still searching for answers from endless news reports about the attacks.

NASA, the International Space Station and NASA were not untouched. Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson took still images from the Space Station traveling 250 miles above New York City after the attack. As you can see from the images, the smoke plumes were clearly visible from that great a height by the astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts.

When the crew made a predawn pass over the area, they witnessed the city glowing from the many fires at the disaster site.

"I know it's a very difficult day for everybody in America right now, and I know folks are struggling very hard to deal with this and recover from it," Culbertson told flight engineers in NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston. "But the country still looks good," he said, "and I just wanted the folks in New York to know that their city still looks very beautiful from space."

NASA's Terra Satellite also was able to take numerous photos of lower Manhattan and the Pentagon using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument aboard. Every one to two days, the satellite takes sweeping 2,300-km-wide views of the planet's surface. They were taken from between 600 and 800 miles above the Earth.

Aside from document this dark moment in our history, NASA was also weary that its locations might be a target considering it is a very high-profile operation. NASA Headquarters and 10 field centers went under heightened security which meant every vehicle and employee went under more scrutiny. Most employees were sent home Tuesday, while only skeleton crews remained to protect the nation's $8 billion shuttle fleet. "NASA and the Kennedy Space Center take the threats to the national security very seriously," said KSC spokesman Bruce Buckingham. "Our top priority is to ensure the safety of our work force and the security of the space shuttle fleet and other invaluable national assets at Kennedy Space Center," he added. "We are taking the necessary precautions to achieve these safety and security goals."

On Friday, September 14, NASA Headquarters reopened at full operation capacity.

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