NASA astronaut Jessica Meir photographed the New York City area from the International Space Station in March 2020.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 were a national tragedy that resulted in a staggering loss of life and a significant change in American culture.

From his vantage point aboard the International Space Station, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet photographed the Washington D.C.

Expedition 3 Commander Frank Culbertson was aboard the International Space Station at the time of the attacks, and the only American on the crew.

From his unique vantage point in space, he recorded his thoughts of the world changing beneath him.

NASA science programs were called into action after September 11, 2001, as the agency worked with FEMA to fly sensors over the affected areas on aircraft looking for aerial contaminants and used satellite resources to monitor from above.

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.

Distribution began on June 14, 2002, National Flag Day, at a ceremony held at the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York.

STS-108 astronauts Mark Kelly, left, and Dan Tani hold commemorative American flags the shuttle Endeavour in December 2001.

In September 2001, Honeybee Robotics employees in lower Manhattan were building a pair of tools for grinding weathered rinds off rocks on Mars, so that scientific instruments on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity could inspect the rocks’ interiors.

That month’s attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center, less than a mile away, shook the lives of the employees and millions of others.

This view of an American flag on metal recovered from the site of the World Trade Center towers shortly after their destruction on September 11, 2001, was taken on Mars on Sept.

An aluminum cuff serving as a cable shield on each of the rock abrasion tools on Mars was made from aluminum recovered from the destroyed World Trade Center towers

The metal bears the image of an American flag and fills a renewed purpose as part of solar system exploration

NASA Kennedy Adds Florida Touch to September 11 Flag

The contributions of NASA and Kennedy Space Center were stitched into the fabric of one of the nation’s most recognizable symbols, when flags from Florida’s Spaceport were sewn into an American Flag recovered near ground zero following the September 11, 2001, attacks

The National 9/11 Flag was raised over the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex after Florida’s contribution was added

“A few days after the collapse of the World Trade Center this flag was hanging on a scaffolding at 90 West Street, which was a building directly south of the World Trade Center that was heavily damaged when the south tower collapsed,” said Jeff Parness, director, founder and chairman of the “New York Says Thank You Foundation.”

Once complete, “The National 9/11 Flag” will be a permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center site

September 7, 2020