NASA astronaut’s harrowing footage shows World Trade Centre collapse during 9/11

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A heart-wrenching video shows a NASA astronaut watch helplessly from space as the World Trade Centre collapses during the 9/11 terror attack in 2001.

The footage, recorded by astronaut Frank Culbertson, was originally aired in a 2014 documentary called Astronauts: Houston We Have a Problem but it has recently been shared on TikTok.

In the video, a horrified Frank is filming the cloud of smoke enveloping Manhattan in New York City from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and he has no idea what is going on.

Later in the documentary, he recalls: "The weather was perfectly clear that day.

"I could easily see New York City, a big black column of smoke coming out of the city, and as I zoomed in with the video camera, I could see this big grey blob enveloping southern Manhattan.

"What we were seeing was the second tower coming down."

At the time, he didn't know if his family were alright and when he learned what happened from NASA they let him call his wife.

"It is an isolated feeling to know that you can't be with your loved ones to make sure they're safe," he says.

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"NASA did arrange a phone call with my wife that evening. It felt good to talk to her to know she was okay and the kids were okay."

The harrowing video was uploaded on TikTok by user @footage_of_the_wtc and it was watched more than 260,000 times and hundreds of people expressed their condolences.

One person commented: "I saw it happen absolutely heartbreaking."

A second viewer said: "The world will never forget. I’m from Europe, I live in Portugal, and every year I remember that sad day."

"Gives me goosebumps," said another user.

• Nasa
• Space

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