KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (voa) – Former residents of the International Space Station have returned to a changed world, following the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Since August, American crew commander Frank Culbertson and his two Russian colleagues have been in space, from where they saw the smoke and dust of the terror attacks. They were brought back to Earth by the Endeavour shuttle, which touched down Monday in Florida under heavy security.
Outgoing station commander Frank Culbertson said he and his two cosmonaut colleagues, Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov observed the smoke from the terrorist airplane crashes into New York’s World Trade Center and U.S. military headquarters. “That was quite a disturbing sight, as you can imagine, to see my country under attack,” he said. “To all of those who lost loved ones, to all of those who worked so hard to help people survive, and to the people who are trying so hard to stop this threat, we wish you the best.”
Endeavour is carrying 6,000 small U.S. flags that will be presented to the families of the terrorism victims when Endeavour returns from orbit. Also aboard are larger flags rescued from the burning Defense Department and from the World Trade Center.
“Just like our country, it is a bit bruised and battered and torn,” Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie said of the World Trade Center flag. “With a little repair, it is going to fly high and as beautiful as it ever did, and that is just what our country is doing.”
The space shuttle is also carrying New York City police badges and patches and a New York Fire Department flag to honor the police officers and fire fighters who died when the World Trade Center collapsed.
The former space station residents will undergo several weeks of rehabilitation to strengthen muscles and bones weakened by prolonged weightlessness.
During its trip to the International Space Station, Endeavour delivered a new three-team crew, which will stay in space until May.
The next shuttle flight scheduled for mid-February will be one of the few missions not destined for the space station. It flies instead to the Hubble Space Telescope, which astronauts will service and upgrade with new instruments.
