Ex-US Astronaut Says Was Greatly Touched By Russians' Support Over 9/11 While At ISS

COLORADO SPRINGS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2023) Former Astronaut Frank Culbertson, the only US astronaut to be aboard the International Space Station during the 9/11 terror attacks, told Sputnik he really appreciated the support he received from his Russian colleagues and said that Moscow picked up a lot of the communications at that time due to events in the United States.

"The Russian Mission Control Center was very supportive. Every time a specialist would come on, many times he would say 'Can I speak to Frank?' and he said 'Frank, I want to give you my condolences for what happened in New York City and Washington,'" Culbertson shared. "'We are with you, we feel for you.' So I found that to really touch me in the heart. And I always appreciated the support and, of course, Moscow had to pick up a lot of the communications because lots of things were happening in the US."

Culbertson remembered that he learned about the tragedy from a doctor on the ground.

"We were reporting on the results of medical exams on each other. It was my job to tell them and he came on and began to tell me what was happening," he said. "It was horrible news for us."

Culbertson went on to say that they saw the smoke coming out of the city and took pictures. In another round, 90 minutes later, they took lots and lots of pictures.

"My crewmates were just as concerned as I was because Russia had endured attacks like that from others in the past too and we didn't know how bad or what else was going to happen," he said. "So we took lots and lots of pictures as we went over the US and then watched the rest of the world to see if anything else was happening. It was very serious to us."

Culbertson also shared that they had a hard time getting information because they didn't have tv or internet, and had to rely on people on the ground to tell them what was going on.

"The day after the attack I learned that one of my close friends and classmates from the naval academy was the Captain on American Airlines flight 77 that was crashed into the Pentagon. So it became very personal for me," Culbertson said.

Culbertson spoke with Sputnik at the Yuri's Night event held by the Space Foundation in Colorado Springs.

On September 11, 2001, members of the Al Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia) crashed two hijacked commercial planes into the World Trade Center in New York, while another plane hit the western part of the Pentagon near Washington, DC. The fourth hijacked aircraft fell down near the city of Pittsburg in the state of Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks.