Editor: Kris Cerone

by Diane Rhodes

"A Year in the Life..."

It has been a year since America awoke to the threat and horror of the World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings and the attempted hijacking of flight 93. A lot has changed in the national consciousness in that time.

Image taken from video made September 11, 2001 by Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson on the International Space Station. View is from approximately 250 miles in altitude. NASA image.

It was a crime so great it stood out, even from space. Scars and smoke were clearly visible from satellites which routinely image the Earth, and to the crew of the International Space Station. http://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/WTCplume.html

We have always seen ourselves as the "good guys", and the notion that we could be so feared and hated as to provoke such terror was unthinkable. In the past year, we have learned otherwise, and it has changed us.

It has also changed our focus on the future. Money which would have been spent on the peaceful development of space has been diverted for the time being to different kinds of space activities, or put on indefinite hold. Satellites which were used to peacefully image the earth have been turned to monitoring it for signs of terrorism and war. The launch of the space shuttle has been made more low-key to protect it from those who might harm it. http://www.space.com/news/wtc_pentagon.html

But time passes. We will never forget, but we will move forward, rebuild and continue our plans for the future. http://www.spaceimaging.com/

In time, we can again begin to look outward, for the science and technological benefits to be found in the peaceful uses of space. For all of us.

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