In this episode:
We meet CAPT Frank Lee Culbertson, Jr., USN (Ret.), a former American Naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, NASA astronaut, and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He served as the Commander of the International Space Station (ISS) for almost four months in 2001, giving him the distinction of being the only U.S. citizen not on Earth when the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks occurred. As the ISS passed over New York City after the attacks, he captured impactful photos and video from low Earth orbit of the smoke emanating from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.
You can read a letter he wrote detailing the complex emotions he experienced that day at https://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/sept11_culbertson.html
Culbertson’s achievements are too numerous to list completely here. He served in the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam, and later as a Naval aviator, Culbertson flew aircraft with the U.S. Air Force in the 426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, where he served as Weapons and Tactics Instructor. Culbertson then served as the Catapult and Arresting Gear Officer for USS John F. Kennedy until he was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, from which he graduated with distinction in 1982. He has logged over 9,500 hours flying time in 60 different types of aircraft.
Frank was selected for and completed NASA astronaut training in 1985. He’s a veteran of three space flights: STS-38 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis (Nov. 1990), STS-51 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (Sept. 1993), and as part of the ISS Expedition 3 crew (launched via STS-105 on Space Shuttle Discovery, Aug. 2001). Culbertson lived and worked aboard the International Space Station for a total of 129 days on that mission and commanded the ISS for 117 of those days.
Culbertson recently retired as President of the Space Systems Group at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, and currently consults for several aerospace companies. He’s also on the Board of Advisors of Bye Aerospace, the Board of Trustees of the AIAA, the Board of Directors of Firefly Black Aerospace, and is Member at Large on the Space Foundation Board of Directors. He remains an active pilot and is president of his own company, Higher Flight LLC.
In this episode, Frank recalls his day on the ISS on Sept. 11, 2001, how he received information about the attacks in bits and pieces as the day unfolded, the loss of his friend Capt. Charles “Chic” Burlingame (pilot of Flight 77 which terrorists crashed into the Pentagon that day), and how much the world had changed by the time he returned to Earth three months later.
Detailing his memories of taking photos aboard the ISS that morning, Culbertson says, “So, it made it easy to zoom in with the camera and look at what was happening. And as I zoomed in ... a big gray blob enveloped Southern Manhattan, and ... I found out later what I was seeing was the second tower come down.”
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged
Danny Jaques — Creator & Chief “Salsanaut,” Danny’s Rocket Ranch™ Space Salsa®
Kevin Rice – Former Director of Business Management for Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and NASA JPL
Laurie Orth — ‘Rocket Recorder’ Author, Composer, Educator
Steven Hawley — Former NASA Astronaut, Hubble Space Telescope & Chandra X-ray Observatory Missions
Dorit Donoviel — Director, Translational Research Institute for Space Health
Will Henry – Writer & Producer, “The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O‘Neill”
Garrett Harwood – Founder/CEO of Eagle Shield Inc.
Libby Jackson – UK Space Agency Human Exploration Programme Manager & “Space Explorers: 25 Extraordinary Stories of Space Exploration and Adventure” Author
Homer Hickam – Bestselling Author
Dr. Kathryn Thornton — Former NASA Astronaut
Jay Chattaway, longtime Star Trek series music and score composer
Sam Mastovich – General Manager, Keystone Compliance
Robert Brumley – Cofounder/Chairman of CommStar Space Communications
Daniel Lockney – NASA Technology Transfer Program
Andrew Matthes & Leyton Torres – SystemsGo Curriculum Program
Trevor Bennett – Cofounder of Starfish Space
Tom Smokov & Craig Fairclough — Water Pure Technologies
Tracy Fanara – NOAA Scientist/Program Manager & ‘Inspector Planet’
Chris Carberry – Cofounder/CEO of Explore Mars, Inc.
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