American Astronaut Frank Culbertson's Photos and Videos Covering Sep 11,2001 Terrorist Attack on NY Twin Towers

The haunting photos and video, shown in full for the first time today on MailOnline, were shot by American astronaut Frank Culbertson as he looked down helplessly on New York on September 11, 2001

He said his first instinct was to grab a camera - and hours later he would discover a close friend, a pilot at the controls of one of the hijacked planes, was one of the dead.

The images emerged as part of research for a television series about astronauts and will be shown for the first time in the UK as part of Channel 4's Live From Space season. 

American Astronaut Frank Culbertson made the recording as the huge plume of smoke from the towers drifted across the city, only learning a few hours afterwards that his friend, Chic Burlingame, had been one of the pilots killed that day when his plane was flown into the Pentagon.

American Astronaut Frank Culbertson explained that upon learning of the attacks he rushed around the station until he found a window that would give him a view of New York and grabbed the nearest camera.
He said: ‘It's difficult to describe how it feels to be the only American completely off the planet at a time such as this. The feeling that I should be there with all of you, dealing with this, helping in some way, is overwhelming.’
The channel 4’s Live From Space season next week will feature documentaries about astronauts, building up to a two-and-a-half-hour live broadcast from the ISS and Mission Control in Houston, Texas, which will feature a full 90-minute orbit of Earth.
Short clips from the film of the attacks on New York were released by Nasa to mark the tenth anniversary in 2011, but the film has not been seen in full with Culbertson’s commentary and bugle call.

Creative director of the Channel 4 project, Tom Brisley, said: 'Not every frame has been seen before, so every frame that was shot on that day is in the show'