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Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

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For further information about Columbia's mission and crew, see STS-107.
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

STS-107 Flight Insignia.svg

STS-107 flight insignia
 
Date
1 February 2003
Time
08:59 EST (13:59 UTC)
Location
Over Texas and Louisiana
Outcome
Grounding of the Space Shuttle fleet for over two years during which various safety measures, improvement in crew restraint, effective ways to deal with catastrophic cabin depressurization and an automated parachute system were initiated.
Casualties
Rick D. Husband
William C. McCool
Michael P. Anderson
Kalpana Chawla
David M. Brown
Laurel Clark
Ilan Ramon
Inquiries
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it reentered Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.
During launch, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing. When the Shuttle reentered the atmosphere, the damage allowed hot gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, which rapidly caused the spacecraft to break up.[1]
Most previous shuttle launches had seen similar, if more minor, damage from foam shedding, but the risks were deemed acceptable.[2] After the launch, some engineers suspected the damage, but NASA managers limited the investigation, under the rationale that the Columbia crew could not have fixed the problem.[3]
Mission STS-107 was the 113th Space Shuttle launch. The mission was delayed 18 times[4] over the two years from the planned launch date of January 11, 2001, to the actual launch date of January 16, 2003. (It was preceded by STS-113.) The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that this delay had nothing to do with the catastrophic failure six months later.[4]
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board's recommendations addressed both technical and organizational issues. Space Shuttle flight operations were delayed for over two years, similar to the delay following the Challenger accident. Construction of the International Space Station was put on hold, and for 29 months the station relied entirely on the Russian Federal Space Agency for resupply until Shuttle flights resumed with STS-114 and 41 months for crew rotation until STS-121. Major changes to shuttle operations, after missions resumed, included a thorough on-orbit inspection to determine how well the shuttle's thermal protection system had endured the ascent, and keeping a designated rescue mission at the ready in case irreparable damage was found. Missions were also restricted to flights to the ISS (so that the crew could use it as a "safe haven" if need be), except for one final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Contents
  [hide] 1 Crew
2 Debris strike during launch
3 Flight risk management
4 Re-entry timeline
5 Presidential response
6 Recovery of debris 6.1 Crew cabin video
7 Investigation 7.1 Initial investigation
7.2 Columbia Accident Investigation Board
7.3 Conclusions
7.4 Possible emergency procedures
8 Memorials
9 Effect on space programs
10 Sociocultural aftermath 10.1 Fears of terrorism
10.2 Purple streak image
10.3 Film hoax
10.4 Music
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
Crew[edit]

 

 The crew of STS-107. L to R: Brown, Husband, Clark, Chawla, Anderson, McCool, RamonCommander: Rick D. Husband, a U.S. Air Force colonel and mechanical engineer, who piloted a previous shuttle during the first docking with the International Space Station (STS-96).
Pilot: William C. McCool, a U.S. Navy commander
Payload Commander: Michael P. Anderson, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and physicist who was in charge of the science mission.
Payload Specialist: Ilan Ramon, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force and the first Israeli astronaut.
Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born aerospace engineer who was on her second space mission.
Mission Specialist: David M. Brown, a U.S. Navy captain trained as an aviator and flight surgeon. Brown worked on a number of scientific experiments.
Mission Specialist: Laurel Blair Salton Clark, a U.S. Navy captain and flight surgeon. Clark worked on a number of biological experiments.
Debris strike during launch[edit]

 

Columbia lifting off on her final mission. The light-colored triangle visible at the base of the strut near the nose of the orbiter is the Left Bipod Foam Ramp. Video
 

 Space Shuttle external tank foam block.
 

 Close-up of the Left Bipod Foam Ramp that broke off and damaged the Shuttle wing.
The shuttle's main fuel tank is covered in foam, an insulator intended to prevent ice from forming when the tank is full of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Such ice could damage the shuttle if shed during lift-off.
About 82 seconds after launch from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39-A, a suitcase-size piece of thermal insulation foam broke off from the External Tank (ET), striking Columbia's left wing reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels. As demonstrated by ground experiments conducted by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, this likely created a 6-to-10-inch (15 to 25 cm) diameter hole, allowing hot gases to enter the wing when Columbia later reentered the atmosphere. At the time of the foam strike, the orbiter was at an altitude of about 66,000 feet (20 km; 13 mi), traveling at Mach 2.46 (1,870 miles per hour or 840 meters per second).
The Left Bipod Foam Ramp is an approximately three-foot (one-meter) aerodynamic component made entirely of foam. The foam, not normally considered to be a structural material, is required to bear some aerodynamic loads. Because of these special requirements, the casting-in-place and curing of the ramps may be performed only by a senior technician.[5] The bipod ramp (having left and right sides) was originally designed to reduce aerodynamic stresses around the bipod attachment points at the external tank, but it was proven unnecessary in the wake of the accident and was removed from the external tank design for tanks flown after STS-107. (Another foam ramp along the liquid oxygen line was also later removed from the tank design to eliminate it as a foam debris source, after complex analysis and tests proved this change safe.)
Bipod Ramp insulation had been observed falling off, in whole or in part, on four previous flights: STS-7 (1983), STS-32 (1990), STS-50 (1992) and most recently STS-112 (just two launches before STS-107). All affected shuttle missions completed successfully. NASA management came to refer to this phenomenon as "foam shedding." As with the O-ring erosion problems that ultimately doomed the Space Shuttle Challenger, NASA management became accustomed to these phenomena when no serious consequences resulted from these earlier episodes. This phenomenon was termed "normalization of deviance" by sociologist Diane Vaughan in her book on the Challenger launch decision process.[6]
As it happened, STS-112 had been the first flight with the "ET Cam", a video feed mounted on the ET for the purpose of giving greater insight to the foam shedding problem. During that launch a chunk of foam broke away from the ET bipod ramp and hit the SRB-ET Attach Ring near the bottom of the left solid rocket booster (SRB) causing a dent four inches wide and three inches deep in it.[7] After STS-112, NASA leaders analyzed the situation and decided to press ahead under the justification that "The ET is safe to fly with no new concerns (and no added risk)" of further foam strikes.[8]
Video taken during lift-off of STS-107 was routinely reviewed two hours later and revealed nothing unusual. The following day, higher-resolution film that had been processed overnight revealed the foam debris striking the left wing, potentially damaging the thermal protection on the Space Shuttle.[9] At the time, the exact location where the foam struck the wing could not be determined due to the low resolution of the tracking camera footage.
Meanwhile, NASA's judgement about the risks was revisited. Chair of the Mission Management Team (MMT) Linda Ham said the “Rationale was lousy then and still is”. Ham and Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore had both been present at the October 31, 2002, meeting where the decision to continue with launches was made.[10]
Post-107 analysis revealed that two previous shuttle launches (STS-52 and -62) also had bipod ramp foam loss that went undetected. In addition, Protuberance Air Load (PAL) ramp foam had also shed pieces, and there were also spot losses from large-area foams.
Flight risk management[edit]
In a risk-management scenario similar to the Challenger disaster, NASA management failed to recognize the relevance of engineering concerns for safety for imaging to inspect possible damage, and failed to respond to engineer requests about the status of astronaut inspection of the left wing. Engineers made three separate requests for Department of Defense (DOD) imaging of the shuttle in orbit to more precisely determine damage. While the images were not guaranteed to show the damage, the capability existed for imaging of sufficient resolution to provide meaningful examination. NASA management did not honor the requests and in some cases intervened to stop the DOD from assisting.[11] The CAIB recommended subsequent shuttle flights be imaged while in orbit using ground-based or space-based DOD assets.[12] Details of the DOD's unfulfilled participation with Columbia remain secret; retired NASA official Wayne Hale stated in 2012 that "Activity regarding other national assets and agencies remains classified and I cannot comment on that aspect of the Columbia tragedy."[13]
Throughout the risk assessment process, senior NASA managers were influenced by their belief that nothing could be done even if damage were detected. This affected their stance on investigation urgency, thoroughness and possible contingency actions. They decided to conduct a parametric "what-if" scenario study more suited to determine risk probabilities of future events, instead of inspecting and assessing the actual damage. The investigation report in particular singled out NASA manager Linda Ham for exhibiting this attitude.[14] In 2013, Hale recalled that Director of Mission Operations John Harpold told him before Columbia's destruction:

You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS. If it has been damaged it's probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?[15]
Hale added, "I was hard pressed to disagree [at the time]. That mindset was widespread. Astronauts agreed. So don't blame an individual; look for the organizational factors that lead to that kind of a mindset. Don't let them in your organization."[15]
Much of the risk assessment hinged on damage predictions to the thermal protection system. These fall into two categories: damage to the silica tile on the wing lower surface, and damage to the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) leading-edge panels. (The TPS includes a third category of components: thermal insulating blankets; but damage predictions are not typically performed on them. Damage assessments on the thermal blankets can be performed after an anomaly has been observed, and this has been done at least once after the return to flight following Columbia's loss.)
Damage-prediction software was used to evaluate possible tile and RCC damage. The tool for predicting tile damage was known as "Crater", described by several NASA representatives in press briefings as not actually a software program but rather a statistical spreadsheet of observed past flight events and effects. The "Crater" tool predicted severe penetration of multiple tiles by the impact if it struck the TPS tile area, but NASA engineers downplayed this. The engineers believed that results showing that the model overstated damage from small projectiles meant that the same would be true of larger Spray-On Foam Insulation (SOFI) impacts. The program used to predict RCC damage was based on small ice impacts the size of cigarette butts, not larger SOFI impacts, as the ice impacts were the only recognized threats to RCC panels up to that point. Under 1 of 15 predicted SOFI impact paths, the software predicted an ice impact would completely penetrate the RCC panel. Engineers downplayed this, too, believing that impacts of the less dense SOFI material would result in less damage than ice impacts. In an e-mail exchange, NASA managers questioned whether the density of the SOFI could be used as justification for reducing predicted damage. Despite engineering concerns about the energy imparted by the SOFI material, NASA managers ultimately accepted the rationale to reduce predicted damage of the RCC panels from possible complete penetration to slight damage to the panel's thin coating.[16]
Ultimately the NASA Mission Management Team felt there was insufficient evidence to indicate that the strike was an unsafe situation, so they declared the debris strike a "turnaround" issue (not of highest importance) and denied the requests for the Department of Defense images.
On January 23, flight director Steve Stich sent an e-mail to the Columbia, informing commander Husband and pilot McCool of the foam strike while unequivocally dismissing any concerns about entry safety.[17][18]

During ascent at approximately 80 seconds, photo analysis shows that some debris from the area of the -Y ET Bipod Attach Point came loose and subsequently impacted the orbiter left wing, in the area of transition from Chine to Main Wing, creating a shower of smaller particles. The impact appears to be totally on the lower surface and no particles are seen to traverse over the upper surface of the wing. Experts have reviewed the high speed photography and there is no concern for RCC or tile damage. We have seen this same phenomenon on several other flights and there is absolutely no concern for entry.[19]
Re-entry timeline[edit]
Columbia was scheduled to land at 9:16 a.m. EST.
2:30 a.m. EST, February 1, 2003: The Entry Flight Control Team began duty in the Mission Control Center.
The Flight Control Team had not been working on any issues or problems related to the planned de-orbit and re-entry of Columbia. In particular, the team had indicated no concerns about the debris that hit the left wing during ascent, and treated the re-entry like any other. The team worked through the de-orbit preparation checklist and re-entry checklist procedures. Weather forecasters, with the help of pilots in the Shuttle Training Aircraft, evaluated landing-site weather conditions at the Kennedy Space Center.8:00: Mission Control Center Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain polled the Mission Control room for a GO/NO-GO decision for the de-orbit burn.
All weather observations and forecasts were within guidelines set by the flight rules, and all systems were normal.8:10: The Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) told the crew that they were GO for de-orbit burn.
8:15:30 (EI-1719): Husband and McCool executed the de-orbit burn using Columbia’s two Orbital Maneuvering System engines.
The Orbiter was upside down and tail-first over the Indian Ocean at an altitude of 175 miles (282 km) and speed of 17,500 miles per hour (7.8 km/s) when the burn was executed. A 2-minute, 38-second de-orbit burn during the 255th orbit slowed the Orbiter to begin her re-entry into the atmosphere. The burn proceeded normally, putting the crew under about one-tenth gravity. Husband then turned Columbia to right side up, facing forward with the nose pitched up.8:44:09 (EI+000): Entry Interface (EI), arbitrarily defined as the point at which the Orbiter enters the discernible atmosphere at 400,000 feet (120 km; 76 mi), occurred over the Pacific Ocean.
As Columbia descended, the heat of reentry caused wing leading-edge temperatures to rise steadily, reaching an estimated 2,500 °F (1,370 °C) during the next six minutes. (As former Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale said in a press briefing, about 90% of this heating is the result of compression of the atmospheric gas caused by the orbiter's supersonic flight, rather than the result of friction.)
 

Columbia at about 8:57. Debris is visible coming from the left wing (bottom). The image was taken at Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland Air Force Base.8:48:39 (EI+270): A sensor on the left wing leading edge spar showed strains higher than those seen on previous Columbia re-entries.
This was recorded only on the Modular Auxiliary Data System, which is similar in concept to a flight data recorder, and was not sent to ground controllers or shown to the crew.8:49:32 (EI+323): Columbia executed a planned roll to the right. Speed: Mach 24.5.
Columbia began a banking turn to manage lift and therefore limit the Orbiter's rate of descent and heating.8:50:53 (EI+404): Columbia entered a 10-minute period of peak heating, during which the thermal stresses were at their maximum. Speed: Mach 24.1; altitude: 243,000 feet (74 km; 46 mi).
8:52:00 (EI+471): Columbia was about 300 miles (480 km) west of the California coastline.
The wing leading-edge temperatures usually reached 2,650 °F (1,450 °C) at this point.8:53:26 (EI+557): Columbia crossed the California coast west of Sacramento. Speed: Mach 23; altitude: 231,600 feet (70.6 km; 43.9 mi).

 

Columbia debris (in red, orange, and yellow) detected by National Weather Service radar over Texas and Louisiana.The Orbiter's wing leading edge typically reached more than 2,800 °F (1,540 °C) at this point.8:53:46 (EI+577): Various people on the ground saw signs of debris being shed. Speed: Mach 22.8; altitude: 230,200 feet (70.2 km; 43.6 mi).
The superheated air surrounding the Orbiter suddenly brightened, causing a streak in the Orbiter's luminescent trail that was quite noticeable in the pre-dawn skies over the West Coast. Observers witnessed four similar events during the following 23 seconds. Dialogue on some of the amateur footage indicates the observers were aware of the abnormality of what they were filming.8:54:24 (EI+615): The Maintenance, Mechanical, and Crew Systems (MMACS) officer told the Flight Director that four hydraulic sensors in the left wing were indicating "off-scale low." In Mission Control, re-entry had been proceeding normally up to this point.
"Off-scale low" is a reading that falls below the minimum capability of the sensor, and it usually indicates that the sensor has stopped functioning, due to internal or external factors, not that the quantity it measures is actually below the sensor's minimum response value.8:54:25 (EI+616): Columbia crossed from California into Nevada airspace. Speed: Mach 22.5; altitude: 227,400 feet (69.3 km; 43.1 mi).
Witnesses observed a bright flash at this point and 18 similar events in the next four minutes.8:55:00 (EI+651): Nearly 11 minutes after Columbia re-entered the atmosphere, wing leading-edge temperatures normally reached nearly 3,000 °F (1,650 °C).
8:55:32 (EI+683): Columbia crossed from Nevada into Utah. Speed: Mach 21.8; altitude: 223,400 feet (68.1 km; 42.3 mi).
8:55:52 (EI+703): Columbia crossed from Utah into Arizona.
8:56:30 (EI+741): Columbia began a roll reversal, turning from right to left over Arizona.
8:56:45 (EI+756): Columbia crossed from Arizona to New Mexico. Speed: Mach 20.9; altitude: 219,000 feet (67 km; 41 mi).
8:57:24 (EI+795): Columbia passed just north of Albuquerque.
8:58:00 (EI+831): At this point, wing leading-edge temperatures typically decreased to 2,880 °F (1,580 °C).
8:58:20 (EI+851): Columbia crossed from New Mexico into Texas. Speed: Mach 19.5; altitude: 209,800 feet (63.9 km; 39.7 mi).
At about this time, the Orbiter shed a Thermal Protection System tile, the most westerly piece of debris that has been recovered. Searchers found the tile in a field in Littlefield, Texas, just northwest of Lubbock.8:59:15 (EI+906): MMACS told the Flight Director that pressure readings had been lost on both left main landing-gear tires. The Flight Director then instructed the Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) to let the crew know that Mission Control saw the messages and was evaluating the indications, and added that the Flight Control Team did not understand the crew's last transmission.
8:59:32 (EI+923): A broken response from the mission commander was recorded: "Roger, uh, bu – [cut off in mid-word] ..." It was the last communication from the crew and the last telemetry signal received in Mission Control.
8:59:37 (EI+928): Hydraulic pressure, which is required to move the flight control surfaces, was lost at about 8:59:37. At that time, the Master Alarm would have sounded for the loss of hydraulics, and the shuttle began to lose control, beginning to roll and yaw uncontrollably, and the crew would have become aware of the serious problem.[20]
9:00:18 (EI+969): Videos and eyewitness reports by observers on the ground in and near Dallas indicated that the Orbiter had disintegrated overhead, continued to break up into more and smaller pieces, and left multiple contrails, as it continued eastward. In Mission Control, while the loss of signal was a cause for concern, there was no sign of any serious problem. Before the orbiter broke up at 9:00:18, the Columbia cabin pressure was nominal and the crew was capable of conscious actions.[20] The crew module remained mostly intact through the breakup, though it had lost enough structural integrity that it lost pressure, and was completely depressurized no later than 9:00:53.
9:00:57 (EI+1008): The crew module, intact to this point, was seen breaking into small subcomponents. It disappeared from view at 9:01:10. The crew, if not already dead, were killed no later than this point.
9:05: Residents of north central Texas, particularly near Tyler, reported a loud boom, a small concussion wave, smoke trails and debris in the clear skies above the counties east of Dallas.
9:12:39 (EI+1710): After hearing of reports of the shuttle being seen to break apart, Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain declared a contingency (events leading to loss of the vehicle) and alerted search-and-rescue teams in the debris area. He called on the Ground Controller to "lock the doors". Two minutes later, Mission Control put contingency procedures into effect. Nobody was permitted to enter or leave the room, and flight controllers had to preserve all the mission data for later investigation.[21]
Presidential response[edit]





 President George W. Bush's address on the Columbia's destruction, February 1, 2003.
At 14:04 EST (19:04 UTC), President George W. Bush addressed the United States: "This day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country ... The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors." Despite the disaster, Bush assured Americans that the space program would continue: "The cause in which they died will continue. [...] Our journey into space will go on."[22]
Recovery of debris[edit]

 

 Grid on the floor of the RLV Hangar
More than 2,000 debris fields were found in sparsely populated areas from Nacogdoches in East Texas, where a large amount of debris fell, to western Louisiana and the southwestern counties of Arkansas. One debris field has been mapped along a path stretching from south of Fort Worth to Hemphill, Texas, as well as into parts of Louisiana.[23] Along with pieces of the shuttle and bits of equipment, searchers also found human body parts, including arms, feet, a torso, and a heart.[24]
In the months after the disaster, the largest-ever organized ground search took place.[25] NASA issued warnings to the public that any debris could contain hazardous chemicals, that it should be left untouched, its location reported to local emergency services or government authorities, and that anyone in unauthorized possession of debris would be prosecuted. Because of the widespread area, volunteer amateur radio operators accompanied the search teams to provide communications support.[26]
A group of small (1 mm) adult Caenorhabditis elegans worms, living in petri dishes enclosed in aluminum canisters, survived re-entry and impact with the ground and were recovered weeks after the disaster.[27][28] The culture was found to be alive on April 28, 2003.[29] The worms were part of a biological research in canisters experiment designed to study the effect of weightlessness on physiology; the experiment was conducted by Cassie Conley, NASA's current Planetary protection officer.[citation needed]
Debris Search Pilot Jules F. Mier Jr. and Debris Search Aviation Specialist Charles Krenek died in a helicopter crash that injured three others during the search.[30]
Some Texas residents recovered some of the debris, ignoring the warnings, and attempted to sell it on the online auction site eBay, starting at $10,000. The auction was quickly removed, but prices for Columbia merchandise such as programs, photographs and patches, went up dramatically after following the disaster, creating a surge of Columbia-related listings.[31] A three-day amnesty offered for "looted" shuttle debris brought in hundreds of illegally recovered pieces.[32] About 40,000 recovered pieces of debris have never been identified. The largest pieces recovered include the front landing gear,[33] and a window frame.[34]
On May 9, 2008, it was reported that data from a disk drive on board Columbia survived the shuttle accident.[35] The drive was used to store data from an experiment on the properties of shear thinning.[36] Although part of the 340MB drive was damaged, the area that contained the data was unharmed and could be recovered.[citation needed]
On July 29, 2011, Nacogdoches authorities told NASA that a 4-foot (1.2 m) diameter piece of debris had been found in a lake. NASA identified the piece as a "PRSD: power reactant storage and distribution".[37]
All recovered non-human Columbia debris is stored in unused office space at the Vehicle Assembly Building, except for parts of the crew compartment, which are kept separate.[38]
Crew cabin video[edit]

 

 The glow of reentry as seen out the front windows.
The recovered items include a videotape recording made by the astronauts during the start of re-entry. The 13-minute recording shows the flight crew astronauts conducting routine re-entry procedures and joking with each other. None gives any indication of a problem. The video shows the flight-deck crew putting on their gloves and passing the video camera around in order to take footage of plasma and flames visible outside the windows of the orbiter (a normal occurrence). The recording, which on normal flights would have continued through landing, ends about four minutes before the shuttle began to disintegrate and 11 minutes prior to loss of signal between the orbiter and Mission Control.[39]
Investigation[edit]
Initial investigation[edit]

 

 Grid on the floor of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Hangar where workers in the field bring in pieces of Columbia's debris. The Columbia Reconstruction Project Team attempted to reconstruct the bottom of the orbiter as part of the investigation into the accident.
 

 A mock-up of a space shuttle leading edge made with an RCC-panel taken from Discovery. Simulation of known and possible conditions of the foam impact on Columbia's final launch showed Brittle fracture of RCC.
NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore reported that "The first indication was loss of temperature sensors and hydraulic systems on the left wing. They were followed seconds and minutes later by several other problems, including loss of tire pressure indications on the left main gear and then indications of excessive structural heating".[40] Analysis of 31 seconds of telemetry data which had initially been filtered out because of data corruption within it showed the shuttle fighting to maintain her orientation, eventually using maximum thrust from her Reaction Control System jets.
The investigation focused on the foam strike from the very beginning. Incidents of debris strikes from ice and foam causing damage during take-off were already well known, and had damaged orbiters, most noticeably during STS-45, STS-27 and STS-87.[41] After the loss of Columbia, NASA concluded that mistakes during installation were the likely cause of foam loss, and retrained employees at Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana to apply foam without defects.[13] Tile damage had also been traced to ablating insulating material from the cryogenic fuel tank in the past. The composition of the foam insulation had been changed in 1997 to exclude the use of freon, a chemical that is suspected to cause ozone depletion; while NASA was exempted from legislation phasing out CFCs, the agency chose to change the foam nonetheless. STS-107 used an older "lightweight tank" (a design that was succeeded by the "superlightweight tank", both being upgrades from the original space shuttle external tank) where the foam was sprayed on to the larger cylindrical surfaces using the newer freon-free foam. However, the bipod ramps were manufactured from BX-250 foam which was excluded from the EPA regulations and did use the original freon formula. The composition change did not contribute to the accident.[42] In any case, the original formulation had shown frequent foam losses, as discussed earlier in this article.
Columbia Accident Investigation Board[edit]
Main article: Columbia Accident Investigation Board
Following protocols established after the loss of Challenger, an independent investigating board was created immediately following the accident. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board, or CAIB, was chaired by retired US Navy Admiral Harold W. Gehman, Jr.,[43] and consisted of expert military and civilian analysts who investigated the accident in detail.

 

Columbia's flight data recorder
Columbia's flight data recorder was found near Hemphill, Texas, on March 19, 2003.[44] Unlike commercial jet aircraft, the space shuttles do not have flight data recorders intended for after-crash analysis. Rather the vehicle data are transmitted in real time to the ground via telemetry. However, since Columbia was the first shuttle, it had a special flight data OEX (Orbiter EXperiments) recorder, designed to help engineers better understand vehicle performance during the first test flights. After the initial Shuttle test-flights were completed, the recorder was never removed from Columbia and was still functioning on the crashed flight. It records many hundreds of different parameters and contained very extensive logs of structural and other data which allowed the CAIB to reconstruct many of the events during the process leading to breakup.[45] Investigators could often use the loss of signals from sensors on the wing to track how the damage progressed.[46] This was correlated with forensic debris analysis conducted at Lehigh University and other tests to obtain a final conclusion about the probable course of events.[47]
Beginning on May 30, 2003, foam impact tests were performed by Southwest Research Institute. They used a compressed air gun to fire a foam block of similar size and mass to that which struck Columbia, at the same estimated speed. To represent the leading edge of Columbia's left wing, RCC panels from NASA stock, along with the actual leading-edge panels from Enterprise, which were fiberglass, were mounted to a simulating structural metal frame. At the beginning of testing, the likely impact site is estimated to be between RCC panel 6 and 9, inclusive. Over many days, dozens of the foam blocks were shot at the wing leading edge model at various angles. These produced only cracks or surface damage to the RCC panels.
During the month of June, further analysis of information from Columbia's flight data recorder narrows the probable impact site to one single panel: RCC wing panel 8. On July 7, in a final round of testing, a block fired at the side of an RCC panel 8 created a hole 16 by 16.7 inches (41 by 42 cm) in that protective RCC panel.[48] The tests clearly demonstrated that a foam impact of the type Columbia sustained could seriously breach the thermal protection system on the wing leading edge.[49]
Conclusions[edit]
On August 26, the CAIB issued its report on the accident. The report confirmed the immediate cause of the accident was a breach in the leading edge of the left wing, caused by insulating foam shed during launch. The report also delved deeply into the underlying organizational and cultural issues that led to the accident. The report was highly critical of NASA's decision-making and risk-assessment processes. It concluded the organizational structure and processes were sufficiently flawed and that a compromise of safety was expected no matter who was in the key decision-making positions. An example was the position of Shuttle Program Manager, where one individual was responsible for achieving safe, timely launches and acceptable costs, which are often conflicting goals. The CAIB report found that NASA had accepted deviations from design criteria as normal when they happened on several flights and did not lead to mission-compromising consequences. One of those was the conflict between a design specification stating the thermal protection system was not designed to withstand significant impacts and the common occurrence of impact damage to it during flight. The board made recommendations for significant changes in processes and organizational culture.
On December 30, 2008, NASA released a further report, entitled Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report, produced by a second commission, the Spacecraft Crew Survival Integrated Investigation Team (SCSIIT). NASA had commissioned this group, "to perform a comprehensive analysis of the accident, focusing on factors and events affecting crew survival, and to develop recommendations for improving crew survival for all future human space flight vehicles."[50] The report concluded that: "The Columbia depressurization event occurred so rapidly that the crew members were incapacitated within seconds, before they could configure the suit for full protection from loss of cabin pressure. Although circulatory systems functioned for a brief time, the effects of the depressurization were severe enough that the crew could not have regained consciousness. This event was lethal to the crew."
The report also concluded:
The crew did not have time to prepare themselves. Some crew members were not wearing their safety gloves, and one crew member was not wearing a helmet. New policies now give the crew more time to prepare for descent.
The crew's safety harnesses malfunctioned during the violent descent. The harnesses on the three remaining shuttles were upgraded after the accident.
The key recommendations of the report included that future spacecraft crew survival systems should not rely on manual activation to protect the crew.[51]
Possible emergency procedures[edit]
The CAIB determined that a rescue mission, though risky, might have been possible provided NASA management had taken action soon enough.[52][53] They stated that had NASA management acted in time, two possible contingency procedures were available: a rescue mission by shuttle Atlantis, and an emergency spacewalk to attempt repairs to the left wing thermal protection.
Normally a rescue mission is not possible, due to the time required to prepare a shuttle for launch, and the limited consumables (power, water, air) of an orbiting shuttle. However, Atlantis was well along in processing for a planned March 1 launch on STS-114, and Columbia carried an unusually large quantity of consumables due to an Extended Duration Orbiter package. The CAIB determined that this would have allowed Columbia to stay in orbit until flight day 30 (February 15). NASA investigators determined that Atlantis processing could have been expedited with no skipped safety checks for a February 10 launch. Hence if nothing went wrong there was a five-day overlap for a possible rescue. As mission control could deorbit an empty shuttle but could not control the orbiter's reentry and landing, it would likely have sent Columbia into the Pacific Ocean;[53] NASA later developed the Remote Control Orbiter system to permit mission control to land a shuttle. Docking at the International Space Station for use as a safe haven while awaiting rescue (or to use the Soyuz to systematically ferry the crew to safety) would have been impossible due to the different orbital inclination of the vehicles.
NASA investigators determined that on-orbit repair by the shuttle astronauts was possible but overall considered "high risk", primarily due to the uncertain resiliency of the repair using available materials and the anticipated high risk of doing additional damage to the Orbiter.[53][52] Columbia did not carry the Canadarm, or Remote Manipulator System, which would normally be used for camera inspection or transporting a spacewalking astronaut to the wing. Therefore an unusual emergency extra-vehicular activity (EVA) would have been required. While there was no astronaut EVA training for maneuvering to the wing, astronauts are always prepared for a similarly difficult emergency EVA to close the external tank umbilical doors located on the orbiter underside, which is necessary for reentry. Similar methods could have reached the shuttle left wing for inspection or repair.[53]
For the repair, the CAIB determined the astronauts would have to use tools and small pieces of titanium, or other metal, scavenged from the crew cabin. These metals would help protect the wing structure and would be held in place during re-entry by a water-filled bag that had turned into ice in the cold of space. The ice and metal would help restore wing leading edge geometry, preventing a turbulent airflow over the wing and therefore keeping heating and burn-through levels low enough for the crew to survive re-entry and bail out before landing. The CAIB could not determine whether a patched-up left wing would have survived even a modified re-entry, and concluded that the rescue option would have had a considerably higher chance of bringing Columbia's crew back alive.[52][53]
Memorials[edit]
On February 4, 2003, President George W. Bush and his wife Laura led a memorial service for the astronauts' families at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Two days later, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne led a similar service at Washington National Cathedral. Patti LaBelle sang "Way Up There" as part of the service.[54]

 

 A makeshift memorial at the main entrance to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas
 

Columbia Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery
 

Columbia memorial on Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit"
 

 Space Shuttle Columbia memorial - Shelby County, Texas
On March 26, the United States House of Representatives' Science Committee approved funds for the construction of a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery for the STS-107 crew. A similar memorial was built at the cemetery for the last crew of Challenger. On October 28, 2003, the names of the astronauts were added to the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
The Houston Astros, who reside in the same city as Johnson Space Center and whose team name honors the U.S. space program, honored the crew on April 1, 2003, the Opening Day of the season, by having seven simultaneous first pitches thrown by family and friends of the Columbia crew. For the National Anthem, 107 NASA personnel, including flight controllers and others involved in Columbia's final mission, carried a U.S. flag onto the field. In addition, the Astros wore the mission patch on their sleeves and replaced all dugout advertising with the mission patch logo for the entire season.[55]
In 2004, Bush conferred posthumous Congressional Space Medals of Honor to all 14 astronauts lost in the Challenger and Columbia accidents.[56]
NASA named several places in honor of Columbia and her crew. Seven asteroids discovered in July 2001 at the Mount Palomar observatory were officially given the names of the seven astronauts: 51823 Rickhusband, 51824 Mikeanderson, 51825 Davidbrown, 51826 Kalpanachawla, 51827 Laurelclark, 51828 Ilanramon, 51829 Williemccool.[57] On Mars, the landing site of the rover Spirit was named Columbia Memorial Station, and included a memorial plaque to the Columbia crew mounted on the back of the high gain antenna. A complex of seven hills east of the Spirit landing site was dubbed the Columbia Hills; each of the seven hills was individually named for a member of the crew, and Husband Hill in particular was ascended and explored by the rover. Back on Earth, NASA's National Scientific Balloon Facility was renamed the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility.
Other tributes included the decision by Amarillo, Texas, to rename its airport Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport after the Amarillo native. State Route 904 was renamed Lt. Michael P. Anderson Memorial Highway, as it runs through Cheney, Washington, the town where he graduated from high school. A newly constructed elementary school located on Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington, was named Michael Anderson Elementary School. Anderson had attended fifth grade at Blair Elementary, the base's previous elementary school, while his father was stationed there. A mountain peak near Kit Carson Peak and Challenger Point in the Sangre de Cristo Range was renamed Columbia Point, and a dedication plaque was placed on the point in August, 2003. Seven dormitories were named in honor of Columbia crew members at the Florida Institute of Technology, Creighton University, The University of Texas at Arlington, and the Columbia Elementary School in the Brevard County School District. The Huntsville City Schools in Huntsville, Alabama, a city strongly associated with NASA, named their most recent high school Columbia High School as a memorial to the crew. A Department of Defense school in Guam was renamed Commander William C. McCool Elementary School.[58] The City of Palmdale, California, the birthplace of the entire shuttle fleet, changed the name of the thoroughfare Avenue M to Columbia Way.
 In October, 2004, both houses of Congress passed a resolution authored by US Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard and co-sponsored by the entire contingent of California representatives to Congress changing the name of Downey, California's Space Science Learning Center to the Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center. The facility is located at the former manufacturing site of the space shuttles, including Columbia and Challenger.
The US Air Force's Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, renamed their auditorium in Husband's honor. He was a graduate of the program. The US Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California named its pilot lounge for Husband.
NASA named a supercomputer "Columbia" in the crew's honor in 2004. It is located at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division at Ames Research Center on Moffett Federal Airfield near Mountain View, California. The first part of the system, built in 2003, known as "Kalpana" was dedicated to Chawla, who worked at Ames prior to joining the Space Shuttle program.[59] On February 5, 2003, the space agency of India, ISRO, renamed one of its meteorological satellites METSAT Kalpana-1 on the orders of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A US Navy compound at a major coalition military base in Afghanistan is named Camp McCool. In addition, the athletic field at McCool's alma mater, Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, was renamed the Willie McCool Track and Field.
A proposed reservoir in Cherokee County in Eastern Texas is to be named Lake Columbia.[60]
Ilan Ramon High School was established in 2006 in Hod HaSharon, Israel, in tribute to the first Israeli astronaut.[61] The school's symbol shows the planet Earth with an aircraft orbiting around it.[62]
The National Naval Medical Center dedicated Laurel Clark Memorial Auditorium on July 11, 2003.[63] Gamma Phi Beta sorority, of which Clark was a member, created the Laurel Clark Foundation in her honor.[64]
Effect on space programs[edit]
Following the loss of Columbia, the space shuttle program was suspended.[46] The further construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was also delayed, as the space shuttles were the only available delivery vehicle for station modules. The station was supplied using Russian unmanned Progress ships, and crews were exchanged using Russian-manned Soyuz spacecraft, and forced to operate on a skeleton crew of two.[65][66]
Less than a year after the accident, President Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration, calling for the space shuttle fleet to complete the ISS, with retirement by the year 2010 following the completion of the ISS, to be replaced by a newly developed Crew Exploration Vehicle for travel to lunar orbit and landing and to Mars.[67] NASA planned to return the space shuttle to service around September 2004; that date was pushed back to July 2005.
On July 26, 2005, at 10:39 am EST, Space Shuttle Discovery cleared the tower on the "Return to Flight" mission STS-114, marking the shuttle's return to space. Overall the STS-114 flight was highly successful, but a similar piece of foam from a different portion of the tank was shed, although the debris did not strike the Orbiter. Due to this, NASA once again grounded the shuttles until the remaining problem was understood and a solution implemented.[46] After delaying their re-entry by two days due to adverse weather conditions, Commander Eileen Collins and Pilot James M. Kelly returned Discovery safely to Earth on August 9, 2005. Later that same month, the external tank construction site at Michoud was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.[68] At the time, there was concern that this would set back further shuttle flights by at least two months and possibly more.
The actual cause of the foam loss on both Columbia and Discovery was not determined until December 2005, when x-ray photographs of another tank showed that thermal expansion and contraction during filling, not human error, caused cracks that led to foam loss. NASA's Hale formally apologized to the Michoud workers who had been blamed for the loss of Columbia for almost three years.[13]
The second "Return to Flight" mission, STS-121, launched on July 4, 2006, at 2:37:55 pm (EDT), after two previous launches were scrubbed because of lingering thunderstorms and high winds around the launch pad. The launch took place despite objections from its chief engineer and safety head. This mission increased the ISS crew to three. A 5-inch (130 mm) crack in the foam insulation of the external tank gave cause for concern; however, the Mission Management Team gave the go for launch.[69] Space Shuttle Discovery touched down successfully on July 17, 2006 at 9:14:43 am (EDT) on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center.
On August 13, 2006, NASA announced STS-121 had shed more foam than they expected. While this did not delay the launch for the next mission, STS-115, originally set to lift off on August 27,[70] the weather and other technical glitches did, with a lightning strike, Hurricane Ernesto and a faulty fuel tank sensor combining to delay the launch until September 9. On September 19, landing was delayed an extra day to examine Atlantis after objects were found floating near the shuttle in the same orbit. When no damage was detected, Atlantis landed successfully on September 21.
The Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report released by NASA on December 30, 2008, made further recommendations to improve a crew's survival chances on future space vehicles, such as the (planned) Orion spacecraft. These include improvements in crew restraints, finding ways to deal more effectively with catastrophic cabin depressurization, more "graceful degradation" of vehicles during a disaster so crews will have a better chance at survival, and automated parachute systems.[50]
Sociocultural aftermath[edit]
Fears of terrorism[edit]
After the shuttle's breakup, there were some initial fears that terrorists might have been involved, but no evidence of that has ever surfaced.[71] Security surrounding the launch and landing of the space shuttle had been increased because the crew included the first Israeli astronaut.[72] Moreover, the Merritt Island launch facility, like all sensitive government areas, had increased security after the September 11 attacks.
Purple streak image[edit]
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that an amateur astronomer had taken a five-second exposure that appeared to show "a purplish line near the shuttle" during re-entry.[73] The CAIB report concluded that the image was the result of "camera vibrations during a long-exposure".[74]
Film hoax[edit]
In a hoax inspired by the destruction of Columbia, some images that were purported to be satellite photographs of the shuttle's explosion turned out to be screen captures from the opening scene of the 1998 film Armageddon, where the shuttle Atlantis is destroyed by asteroid fragments. In reality, Columbia disintegrated rather than exploded. In response to the disaster, FX pulled Armageddon from that night's schedule, replacing it with Aliens.[75]
Music[edit]
The 2003 album Bananas by Deep Purple includes "Contact Lost", an instrumental piece written by guitarist Steve Morse in remembrance of the loss. Morse is donating his songwriting royalties to the families of the astronauts.[76]
The 2005 album "Ultimatum" by The Long Winters includes "The Commander Thinks Aloud", a song about the Columbia disaster written by John Roderick.
The 2008 album Columbia: We Dare to Dream by Anne Cabrera was written as a tribute to space shuttle Columbia STS-107, her crew, support teams, recovery teams, and the crew's families.[77] A copy of the album on compact disc was flown aboard space shuttle Discovery mission STS-131 to the International Space Station by astronaut Clayton Anderson in April 2010.[78]
The 2005 album Golevka by The Evpatoria Report includes "Taijin Kyofusho", a post rock piece utilizing audio transmissions between the crew of Columbia STS-107 and flight controller during re-entry.
See also[edit]

Flag of the United States.svgUnited States portal
 RocketSunIcon.svgSpaceflight portal
 Texas flag map.svgTexas portal
 

Apollo 1
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Expedition 6
Criticism of the Space Shuttle program
References[edit]
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 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Columbia Settlement

NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia & Her Crew
NASA STS-107 Crew Memorial web page
Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB)[dead link]
CAIB hearing transcripts[dead link]
Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report PDF
President Bush's remarks at memorial service – February 4, 2003
Columbia Loss FAQ[dead link] – a discussion of the Columbia disaster
The CBS News Space Reporter's Handbook STS-51L/107 Supplement
How poor presentation skills by engineers may have contributed to the disaster, according to Edward Tufte[dead link]
Video reconstruction of final reentry, raw video, 20 minute video tribute
photos of recovered debris stored on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC

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September 11 attacks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Jump to: navigation, search

"9/11" redirects here. For the date, see September 11 or 9 November.
For other uses, see September 11 attacks (disambiguation).
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September 11 attacks
A montage of eight images depicting, from top to bottom, the World Trade Center towers burning, the collapsed section of the Pentagon, the impact explosion in the south tower, a rescue worker standing in front of rubble of the collapsed towers, an excavator unearthing a smashed jet engine, three frames of video depicting airplane hitting the Pentagon.
From top to bottom, and left to right: the World Trade Center burning; a section of the Pentagon collapses; Flight 175 crashes into 2 WTC; a fireman requests help at Ground Zero; an engine from Flight 93 is recovered; Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
 
Location
New York City; Arlington County, Virginia; and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Date
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
 8:46 am – 10:28 am (UTC-04:00)
Attack type
Aircraft hijackings, mass murder, suicide attacks, terrorism
Deaths
2,996 (2,977 victims + 19 hijackers)
Injured (non-fatal)
More than 6,000
Perpetrators
al-Qaeda[1]
(See also responsibility and hijackers)
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th, or 9/11[nb 1]) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both towers collapsed with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the WTC complex, as well as major damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C.,[2] but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes. It also was the deadliest incident for firefighters in the history of the United States.
Suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaeda. Although the group's leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, in 2004, he claimed responsibility for the attacks.[1] Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives for the attacks. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaeda. Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. Having evaded capture for years, bin Laden was located and killed by U.S. forces in May 2011.
The destruction of the Twin Towers and other properties caused serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan and had a significant effect on global markets, closing Wall Street until September 17 and the civilian airspace in the U.S. and Canada until September 13. Many closings, evacuations and cancellations followed the attack, either out of fear of further attacks or respect for the tragedy. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, and the Pentagon was repaired within a year. Numerous memorials have been constructed, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, the Pentagon Memorial, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
On November 18, 2006, Construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site.[3] As of September 2013, the new tower's concrete construction is largely complete, and will officially open when the installation of podium glass and interior construction are completed in late 2013 or early 2014.[4]

Contents
  [hide] 1 Attacks 1.1 Events
1.2 Casualties
1.3 Damage
1.4 Rescue and recovery
2 Attackers and their background 2.1 al-Qaeda
2.2 Osama bin Laden
2.3 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
2.4 Other al-Qaeda members
2.5 Motives
3 Planning of the attacks
4 Aftermath 4.1 Immediate response
4.2 Military operations following the attacks
4.3 American response 4.3.1 Hate crimes
4.3.2 Muslim American response
4.4 International response
5 Long-term effects 5.1 Economic aftermath
5.2 Health effects
5.3 Government policies toward terrorism
5.4 Cultural impact
6 Investigations 6.1 FBI investigation
6.2 9/11 Commission
6.3 Collapse of the World Trade Center
6.4 Internal review of the CIA
7 Rebuilding and revitalization
8 Memorials
9 See also
10 Citations
11 External links
Attacks
See also: Timeline for the day of the September 11 attacks

 

 Flight paths of the four planes used on September 11
Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airliners (two Boeing 757 and two Boeing 767) en route to California (three headed to LAX in Los Angeles, and one to San Francisco) after takeoffs from Boston, Massachusetts; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C.[5] Large planes with long flights were selected for hijacking because they would be heavily fueled.[6]
The four flights were:
American Airlines Flight 11: Left Boston's Logan Airport at 7:59 a.m. enroute to Los Angeles with a crew of 11 and 76 passengers, not including five hijackers. The hijackers flew the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m.
United Airlines Flight 175: Left Logan Airport at 8:14 a.m. enroute to Los Angeles with a crew of nine and 51 passengers, not including five hijackers. The hijackers flew the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m.
American Airlines Flight 77: Left Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia at 8:20 a.m. enroute to Los Angeles with a crew of six and 53 passengers, not including five hijackers. The hijackers flew the plane into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
United Airlines Flight 93: Left Newark International Airport at 8:42 a.m. enroute to San Francisco, with a crew of seven and 33 passengers, not including four hijackers. As passengers attempted to subdue the hijackers, the aircraft crashed into the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m.
Media coverage was intense during the attacks and aftermath, beginning moments after the first crash into the World Trade Center.[7]
Events
At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC), and at 9:03 a.m., another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC).[8][9] Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.[10]
A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, under the control of four hijackers, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. Flight 93's target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House.[6] Flight 93's cockpit voice recorder revealed crew and passengers tried to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning.[11] Once it became evident to the hijackers that the passengers might regain control of the plane, the hijackers rolled the plane and intentionally crashed it.[12][13]

 

 The north face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) immediately after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175
Some passengers and crew members who called from the aircraft using the cabin airphone service and mobile phones provided details: several hijackers were aboard each plane; they used mace, tear gas, or pepper spray to overcome attendants; and some people aboard had been stabbed.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Reports indicated hijackers stabbed and killed pilots, flight attendants, and one or more passengers.[5][21] In their final report, the 9/11 Commission found the hijackers had recently purchased multi-function hand tools and assorted knives and blades.[22][23] A flight attendant on Flight 11, a passenger on Flight 175, and passengers on Flight 93 said the hijackers had bombs, but one of the passengers said he thought the bombs were fake. The FBI found no traces of explosives at the crash sites, and the 9/11 Commission concluded that the bombs were probably fake.[5]
Three buildings in the World Trade Center complex collapsed due to fire-induced structural failure.[24] The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. after burning for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175 and the explosion of its fuel.[24] The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. after burning for 102 minutes.[24] When the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 World Trade Center building (7 WTC), damaging it and starting fires. These fires burned for hours, compromising the building's structural integrity, and 7 WTC collapsed at 5:21 p.m.[25][26] The Pentagon sustained major damage.

File:Pentagon Security Camera 1.ogv
 

 Security camera footage of Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon.[27] The plane hits the Pentagon approximately 86 seconds after the beginning of this recording.
At 9:40 a.m., the FAA grounded all aircraft within the continental U.S., and aircraft already in flight were told to land immediately. All international civilian aircraft were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico, and all international flights were banned from landing on U.S. soil for three days.[28] The attacks created widespread confusion among news organizations and air traffic controllers. Among the unconfirmed and often contradictory news reports aired throughout the day, one of the most prevalent said a car bomb had been detonated at the U.S. State Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C.[29] Another jet—Delta Air Lines Flight 1989—was suspected of having been hijacked, but the aircraft responded to controllers and landed safely in Cleveland, Ohio.[30]
In a September[verification needed] 2002 interview, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who are believed to have organized the attacks, said Flight 93's intended target was the United States Capitol, not the White House.[31] During the planning stage of the attacks, Mohamed Atta, the hijacker and pilot of Flight 11, thought the White House might be too tough a target and sought an assessment from Hani Hanjour, who would later hijack and pilot Flight 77.[32] Mohammed said al-Qaeda initially planned to target nuclear installations rather than the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but decided against it, fearing things could "get out of control".[33] Final decisions on targets, according to Mohammed, were left in the hands of the pilots.[32]
Casualties
Main articles: Casualties of the September 11 attacks and New York City Fire Department casualties of the September 11 attacks

 

 The remains of 6 World Trade Center, 7 World Trade Center, and 1 World Trade Center on September 17, 2001
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,996 people, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims.[34] The victims included 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,606 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon.[35][36] Nearly all of the victims were civilians; 55 military personnel were among those killed at the Pentagon.[37]
More than 90% of the workers and visitors who died in the towers had been at or above the points of impact.[38] In the North Tower 1,355 people at or above the point of impact were trapped and died of smoke inhalation, fell or jumped from the tower to escape the smoke and flames, or were killed in the building's eventual collapse. The destruction of all three staircases in the tower when Flight 11 hit made it impossible for anyone above the impact zone to escape. One hundred-seven people below the point of impact died as well.[38]
In the South Tower, one stairwell (A), was left intact after Flight 175 hit, allowing 14 people located on the floors of impact (including one man who saw the plane coming at him) and four more from the floors above to escape. 911 operators who received calls from individuals inside the tower were not well informed of the situation as it rapidly unfolded and as a result, told callers not to descend the tower on their own.[39] 630 people died in that tower, fewer than half the number killed in the North Tower.[38] Casualties in the South Tower were significantly reduced by some occupants deciding to start evacuating as soon as the North Tower was struck.[40]

 

 Urban Search and Rescue Task Force German Shepherd dog works to uncover survivors at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
At least 200 people fell or jumped to their deaths from the burning towers (as exemplified in the photograph The Falling Man), landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below.[41] Some occupants of each tower above the point of impact made their way toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, but the roof access doors were locked. No plan existed for helicopter rescues, and the combination of roof equipment and thick smoke and intense heat prevented helicopters from approaching.[42] A total of 411 emergency workers died as they tried to rescue people and fight fires. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lost 340 firefighters, a chaplain and two paramedics.[43] The New York City Police Department (NYPD) lost 23 officers.[44] The Port Authority Police Department lost 37 officers.[45] Eight emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics from private emergency medical services units were killed.[46][47]
Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of the North Tower, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer.[48] Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–100, lost 358 employees,[49][50] and 175 employees of Aon Corporation were also killed.[51] The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that about 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks. Turnstile counts from the Port Authority suggest 14,154 people were typically in the Twin Towers by 8:45 a.m.[52][53] The vast majority of people below the impact zone safely evacuated the buildings.[54]
After New York, New Jersey lost the most state citizens, with the city of Hoboken sustaining the most deaths.[55] More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center.[56] Two people were added to the official death toll after dying from health conditions linked to exposure to dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center.[57][58]

Deaths (+ hijackers)

New York City
World Trade Center 2,606[35][59]
American 11 87 + 5[60]
United 175 60 + 5[61]
Arlington
Pentagon 125[62]
American 77 59 + 5[63]
Shanksville
United 93 40 + 4[64]
Total
2,977 + 19
Weeks after the attack, the death toll was estimated to be over 6,000, more than twice the number of deaths eventually confirmed.[65] The city was only able to identify remains for about 1,600 of the World Trade Center victims. The medical examiner's office collected "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead".[66] Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 by workers who were preparing to demolish the damaged Deutsche Bank Building. In 2010, a team of anthropologists and archaeologists searched for human remains and personal items at the Fresh Kills Landfill, where seventy-two more human remains were recovered, bringing the total found to 1,845. DNA profiling continues in an attempt to identify additional victims.[67][68][69] The remains are being held in storage in Memorial Park, outside the New York City Medical Examiner’s facilities. It is expected that the remains will be moved in 2013 to a repository behind a wall at the 9/11 museum. In July 2011, a team of scientists at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner was still trying to identify remains, in the hope that improved technology will allow them to identify other victims.[69] On September 16, 2013, the 1,638th victim was identified. There are still 1,115 victims that have not been identified.[70]
Damage
See also: Artworks destroyed in the September 11 attacks

 

 The Pentagon was damaged by fire and partly collapsed.
Along with the 110-floor Twin Towers, numerous other buildings at the World Trade Center site were destroyed or badly damaged, including WTC buildings 3 through 7 and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.[71] The North Tower, South Tower, the Marriott Hotel (3 WTC) and 7 WTC were completely destroyed. The U.S. Customs House (6 World Trade Center), 4 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center, and both pedestrian bridges connecting buildings were severely damaged. The Deutsche Bank Building on 130 Liberty Street was partially damaged and demolished later.[72][73] The two buildings of the World Financial Center also suffered damage.[72]
The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned as uninhabitable because of toxic conditions inside the office tower, and was deconstructed.[74][75] The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was condemned due to extensive damage in the attacks, and is being rebuilt.[76] Other neighboring buildings including 90 West Street and the Verizon Building suffered major damage but have been restored.[77] World Financial Center buildings, One Liberty Plaza, the Millenium Hilton, and 90 Church Street had moderate damage and have since been restored.[78] Communications equipment on top of the North Tower was also destroyed, but media stations were quickly able to reroute signals and resume broadcasts.[71][79]
The Pentagon was severely damaged by the impact of American Airlines Flight 77 and ensuing fires, causing one section of the building to collapse.[80] As it approached the Pentagon, the airplane's wings knocked over light poles and its right engine smashed into a power generator before crashing into the western side of the building, killing all 53 passengers, 5 hijackers, and 6 crew.[81][82] The plane hit the Pentagon at the first-floor level. The front part of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, while the mid and tail sections kept moving for another fraction of a second.[83] Debris from the tail section penetrated furthest into the building, breaking through 310 feet (94 m) of the three outermost of the building's five rings.[83][84]
Rescue and recovery
See also: Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks

An injured victim is being loaded into a paramedic van with the burning Pentagon in the background

 An injured victim of the Pentagon attack is evacuated.
The New York City Fire Department deployed 200 units (half of the department) to the site. Their efforts were supplemented by numerous off-duty firefighters and emergency medical technicians.[85][86][87] The New York City Police Department sent Emergency Service Units and other police personnel, and deployed its aviation unit. Once on the scene, the FDNY, NYPD, and Port Authority police did not coordinate efforts and performed redundant searches for civilians.[85][88] As conditions deteriorated, the NYPD aviation unit relayed information to police commanders, who issued orders for its personnel to evacuate the towers; most NYPD officers were able to safely evacuate before the buildings collapsed.[88][89] With separate command posts set up and incompatible radio communications between the agencies, warnings were not passed along to FDNY commanders.
After the first tower collapsed, FDNY commanders issued evacuation warnings; however, due to technical difficulties with malfunctioning radio repeater systems, many firefighters never heard the evacuation orders. 9-1-1 dispatchers also received information from callers that was not passed along to commanders on the scene.[86] Within hours of the attack, a substantial search and rescue operation was launched. After months of around-the-clock operations the World Trade Center site was cleared by the end of May 2002.[90]
Attackers and their background
See also: Responsibility for the September 11 attacks, Hijackers in the September 11 attacks, Trials related to the September 11 attacks, and 20th hijacker
al-Qaeda

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Major attacks by al-Qaeda

 
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See also: al-Qaeda
The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets.[91] Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical.[92] In 1996 bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia.[93]
In a second fatwā in 1998, bin Laden outlined his objections to American foreign policy with respect to Israel, as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War.[94] Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, and according to bin Laden, Muslim legal scholars, "have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries."[94]
Osama bin Laden
See also: Osama bin Laden, Death of Osama bin Laden, and Videos of Osama bin Laden

 

 1997 picture of Osama bin Laden
Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement.[1][95][96] Al Jazeera broadcast a statement by bin Laden on September 16, 2001, stating, "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation."[97] In November 2001, U.S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the tape, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi and admits foreknowledge of the attacks.[98] On December 27, 2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, "It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam....It is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people...We say that the end of the United States is imminent, whether Bin Laden or his followers are alive or dead, for the awakening of the Muslim umma (nation) has occurred", but he stopped short of admitting responsibility for the attacks.[99] The transcript references several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims.
Shortly before the U.S. presidential election in 2004, in a taped statement, bin Laden publicly acknowledged al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks on the U.S. and admitted his direct link to the attacks. He said that the attacks were carried out because, "we are free ... and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours."[100] Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center.[96][101] Another video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 shows bin Laden with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks.[102] The U.S. never formally indicted bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks but he was on the FBI's Most Wanted List for the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya.[103][104] After a nearly 10-year manhunt, bin Laden was killed by American special forces in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011.[105][106]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
See also: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

 

 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after his capture in 2003
The journalist Yosri Fouda of the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera reported that in April 2002, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted his involvement, along with Ramzi bin al-Shibh.[107][108][109] The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity towards the United States felt by Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed from his "violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel".[110]
Mohammed was also an adviser and financier of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, the lead bomber in that attack.[111][112]
Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, by Pakistani security officials working with the CIA, then transported to Guantanamo Bay and interrogated using methods including waterboarding.[113][114] During U.S. hearings at Guantanamo Bay in March 2007, Mohammed again confessed his responsibility for the attacks, stating he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z" and that his statement was not made under duress.[109][115]
Other al-Qaeda members
In "Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, five people are identified as having been completely aware of the operation's details. They are bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Abu Turab al-Urduni and Mohammed Atef.[116] To date, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted for the attacks.
On September 26, 2005, the Spanish high court sentenced Abu Dahdah to 27 years in prison for conspiracy on the 9/11 attacks and being a member of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. At the same time, another 17 al-Qaeda members were sentenced to penalties of between six and eleven years.[117] On February 16, 2006, the Spanish Supreme Court reduced the Abu Dahdah penalty to 12 years because it considered that his participation in the conspiracy was not proven.[118]
Also in 2006, Moussaoui, who some originally suspected might have been the assigned 20th hijacker, was convicted for the lesser role of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and air piracy. He is serving a life sentence without parole.[119][120] Mounir el-Motassadeq, an associate of the Hamburg-based hijackers, is serving 15 years for his role in helping the hijackers prepare for the attacks.[121]
The Hamburg cell in Germany included radical Islamists who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks.[122] Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Said Bahaji were all members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell.[123]
Motives
See also: Motives for the September 11 attacks
Osama bin Laden's declaration of a holy war against the United States, and a 1998 fatwā signed by bin Laden and others, calling for the killing of American civilians,[94] are seen by investigators as evidence of his motivation.[124] In bin Laden's November 2002 "Letter to America", he explicitly stated that al-Qaeda's motives for their attacks include
Support for the "attacks against Muslims" in Somalia
Support of Russian "atrocities against Muslims" in Chechnya
Support of Indian "oppression against Muslims" in Kashmir
The presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia[125][126]
U.S. support of Israel[127][128]
The sanctions against Iraq[129]
After the attacks, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri released additional video tapes and audio tapes, some of which repeated those reasons for the attacks. Two particularly important publications were bin Laden's 2002 "Letter to America",[130] and a 2004 video tape by bin Laden.[131]
Bin Laden interpreted the Prophet Muhammad as having banned the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia".[132] In 1996, bin Laden issued a fatwā calling for American troops to leave Saudi Arabia. In 1998, al-Qaeda wrote, "for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples."[133]
In a December 1999 interview, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca", and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world.[134] One analysis of suicide terrorism suggested that without U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda likely would not have been able to get people to commit to suicide missions.[135]
In the 1998 fatwā, al-Qaeda identified the Iraq sanctions as a reason to kill Americans, condemning the "protracted blockade"[133] among other actions that constitute a declaration of war against "Allah, his messenger, and Muslims."[133] The fatwā declared that "the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque of Mecca from their grip, and in order for their [the Americans'] armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim."[136][137]
Bin Laden claimed, in 2004, that the idea of destroying the towers had first occurred to him in 1982, when he witnessed Israel's bombardment of high-rise apartment buildings during the 1982 Lebanon War.[138][139] Some analysts, including Mearsheimer and Walt, also claim that one motivation for the attacks was U.S. support of Israel.[128][134] In 2004 and 2010, bin Laden again connected the September 11 attacks with U.S. support of Israel, although most of the letter expressed bin Laden's disdain with President Bush and bin Laden's hope to "destroy and bankrupt" the U.S.[140][141]
In addition to those cited by bin Laden and al-Qaeda, analysts have suggested other motives, including western support of Islamist and non-Islamist authoritarian regimes in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and northern Africa, and the presence of western troops in some of these countries.[142] Other authors suggest the "humiliation" resulting from the Islamic world falling behind the Western world – this discrepancy rendered especially visible by the globalization trend[143][144] and a desire to provoke the U.S. into a broader war against the Islamic world in the hope of motivating more allies to support al-Qaeda.
Others have argued that 9/11 was a strategic move with the objective of provoking America into a war that would incite a pan-Islamic revolution.[145][146]
Planning of the attacks
See also: Planning of the September 11 attacks

ground zero and surrounding area as seen from directly above depicting where the two planes impacted the towers

 Map showing the attacks on the World Trade Center (the planes are not drawn to scale)
 

 Diagram showing the attacks on the World Trade Center
The idea for the attacks came from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented it to Osama bin Laden in 1996.[147] At that time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan.[148] The 1998 African Embassy bombings and bin Laden's 1998 fatwā marked a turning point, as bin Laden became intent on attacking the United States.[148]
In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot. A series of meetings occurred in early 1999, involving Mohammed, bin Laden, and his deputy Mohammed Atef.[148] Atef provided operational support for the plot, including target selections and helping arrange travel for the hijackers.[148] Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting some potential targets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles because, "there was not enough time to prepare for such an operation".[149][150]
Bin Laden provided leadership and financial support for the plot, and was involved in selecting participants.[151] Bin Laden initially selected Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, both experienced jihadists who had fought in Bosnia. Hazmi and Mihdhar arrived in the United States in mid-January 2000. In spring 2000, Hazmi and Mihdhar took flying lessons in San Diego, California, but both spoke little English, did poorly with flying lessons, and eventually served as secondary – or "muscle" – hijackers.[152][153]
In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany, arrived in Afghanistan, including Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh.[154] Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience living in the west.[155] New recruits were routinely screened for special skills and al-Qaeda leaders consequently discovered that Hani Hanjour already had a commercial pilot's license.[156]
Hanjour arrived in San Diego on December 8, 2000, joining Hazmi.[157] They soon left for Arizona, where Hanjour took refresher training. Marwan al-Shehhi arrived at the end of May 2000, while Atta arrived on June 3, 2000, and Jarrah arrived on June 27, 2000. Bin al-Shibh applied several times for a visa to the United States, but as a Yemeni, he was rejected out of concerns he would overstay his visa and remain as an illegal immigrant. Bin al-Shibh stayed in Hamburg, providing coordination between Atta and Mohammed. The three Hamburg cell members all took pilot training in South Florida.
In spring 2001, the secondary hijackers began arriving in the United States.[158] In July 2001, Atta met with bin al-Shibh in Spain, where they coordinated details of the plot, including final target selection. Bin al-Shibh also passed along bin Laden's wish for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible.[159]
Aftermath
Immediate response

Three high-level politicians and a General, all displaying grim facial expressions, flank the main speaker.

 Eight hours after the attacks, Donald Rumsfeld, then U.S. Secretary of Defense, declares "The Pentagon is functioning."
See also: Airport security repercussions due to the September 11 attacks, Closings and cancellations following the September 11 attacks, Aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Reactions to the September 11 attacks, U.S. government response to the September 11 attacks, and U.S. military response during the September 11 attacks
At 8:32 a.m., Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials were notified Flight 11 had been hijacked and they in turn notified the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD scrambled two F-15s from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and they were airborne by 8:53 a.m.[160] Because of slow and confused communication from FAA officials, NORAD had 9 minutes' notice that Flight 11 had been hijacked, and no notice about any of the other flights before they crashed.[160] After both of the Twin Towers had already been hit, more fighters were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia at 9:30 a.m.[160] At 10:20 a.m. Vice President Dick Cheney issued orders to shoot down any commercial aircraft that could be positively identified as being hijacked. However, these instructions were not relayed in time for the fighters to take action.[160][161][162][163] Some fighters took to the air without live ammunition, knowing that to prevent the hijackers from striking their intended targets, the pilots might have to intercept and crash their fighters into the hijacked planes, possibly ejecting at the last moment.[164]
For the first time in U.S. history, SCATANA was invoked, closing all airspace and immediately grounding all non-emergency civilian aircraft in the United States, Canada, and several other countries,[165] thus stranding tens of thousands of passengers across the world.[166] The Federal Aviation Administration closed American airspace to all international flights, causing about five hundred flights to be turned back or redirected to other countries. Canada received 226 of the diverted flights and launched Operation Yellow Ribbon to deal with the large numbers of grounded planes and stranded passengers.[167]
The 9/11 attacks had immediate effects upon the American people.[168] Police and rescue workers from around the country took leaves of absence, traveling to New York City to help recover bodies from the twisted remnants of the Twin Towers.[169] Blood donations across the U.S. surged in the weeks after 9/11.[170][171]
The deaths of adults who were killed in the attacks or died in rescue operations resulted in over 3,000 children losing a parent.[172] Subsequent studies documented children's reactions to these actual losses and to feared losses of life, the protective environment in the aftermath of the attacks, and effects on surviving caregivers.[173][174][175]
Military operations following the attacks
See also: War on Terror
At 2:40 p.m. in the afternoon of September 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement. According to notes taken by senior policy official Stephen Cambone, Rumsfeld asked for, "Best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H." (Saddam Hussein) "at same time. Not only UBL" (Osama bin Laden).[176] Cambone's notes quoted Rumsfeld as saying, "Need to move swiftly – Near term target needs – go massive – sweep it all up. Things related and not."[177][178]

A line of soldiers carrying equipment on their backs walking toward a transport helicopter in desert terrain

U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan
The NATO council declared the attacks on the United States were an attack on all NATO nations which satisfied Article 5 of the NATO charter. This marked the first invocation of Article 5, which had been written during the Cold War with an attack by the Soviet Union in mind.[179] Australian Prime Minister John Howard who was in Washington D.C. during the attacks invoked Article IV of the ANZUS treaty.[180] The Bush administration announced a War on Terror, with the stated goals of bringing bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks. These goals would be accomplished by imposing economic and military sanctions against states harboring terrorists, and increasing global surveillance and intelligence sharing.
On September 14, 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. Still in effect, it grants the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups.
On October 7, 2001, the War in Afghanistan began when U.S. and British forces initiated aerial bombing campaigns targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda camps, then later invaded Afghanistan with ground troops of the Special Forces. The overthrow of the Taliban rule of Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition was the second-biggest operation of the U.S. Global War on Terrorism outside of the United States, and the largest directly connected to terrorism. Conflict in Afghanistan between the Taliban insurgency and the International Security Assistance Force is ongoing. The Philippines and Indonesia, among other nations with their own internal conflicts with Islamic terrorism, also increased their military readiness.[181][182]
American response







At a joint session of Congress, President Bush pledges to defend America's freedom against the fear of terrorism, September 20, 2001 (audio only).
Following the attacks, President Bush's approval rating soared to 90%.[183] On September 20, 2001 he addressed the nation and a joint session of the United States Congress regarding the events of September 11 and the subsequent nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and described his intended response to the attacks. New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's highly visible role won him high praise in New York and nationally.[184]
Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors of the attacks and to the families of victims. By the deadline for victim's compensation on September 11, 2003, 2,833 applications had been received from the families of those who were killed.[185]


 
Statement by President Bush in his Address to the Nation




George W. Bush's address to the people of the United States, September 11, 2001, 8:30 pm EDT.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Problems playing this file? See media help.
Contingency plans for the continuity of government and the evacuation of leaders were implemented almost immediately after the attacks.[166] However, Congress was not told that the United States had been under a continuity of government status until February 2002.[186]
In the largest restructuring of the U.S. government in contemporary history, the United States enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002, creating the Department of Homeland Security. Congress also passed the USA PATRIOT Act, saying it would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes.[187] Civil liberties groups have criticized the PATRIOT Act, saying it allows law enforcement to invade the privacy of citizens and that it eliminates judicial oversight of law enforcement and domestic intelligence.[188][189][190] In an effort to effectively combat future acts of terrorism, the National Security Agency (NSA) was given broad powers. NSA commenced warrantless surveillance of telecommunications which was sometimes criticized since it permitted the agency "to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant".[191]
Hate crimes
Numerous incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Muslims and South Asians were reported in the days following the 9/11 attacks.[192][193][194] Sikhs were also targeted because Sikh males usually wear turbans, which are stereotypically associated with Muslims. There were reports of attacks on mosques and other religious buildings (including the firebombing of a Hindu temple), and assaults on people, including one murder: Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh mistaken for a Muslim, was fatally shot on September 15, 2001, in Mesa, Arizona.[194]
According to an academic study, people perceived to be Middle Eastern were as likely to be victims of hate crimes as followers of Islam during this time. The study also found a similar increase in hate crimes against people who may have been perceived as Muslims, Arabs and others thought to be of Middle Eastern origin.[195] A report by the South Asian American advocacy group known as South Asian Americans Leading Together, documented media coverage of 645 bias incidents against Americans of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent between September 11 and 17. Various crimes such as vandalism, arson, assault, shootings, harassment, and threats in numerous places were documented.[196][197]
Muslim American response
Muslim organizations in the United States were swift to condemn the attacks and called "upon Muslim Americans to come forward with their skills and resources to help alleviate the sufferings of the affected people and their families".[198] These organizations included the Islamic Society of North America, American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, and the Shari'a Scholars Association of North America. Along with monetary donations, many Islamic organizations launched blood drives and provided medical assistance, food, and shelter for victims.[199][200][201]
International response
See also: Reactions to the September 11 attacks

 

Vladimir Putin and his wife attending a commemoration service for the victims of the September 11 attacks, November 16, 2001
The attacks were denounced by mass media and governments worldwide. Across the globe, nations offered pro-American support and solidarity.[202] Leaders in most Middle Eastern countries, and Afghanistan, condemned the attacks. Iraq was a notable exception, with an immediate official statement that, "the American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity".[203] While the government of Saudi Arabia officially condemned the attacks, privately many Saudis favored bin Laden's cause.[204][205] As in the United States, the aftermath of the attacks saw tensions increase in other countries between Muslims and non-Muslims.[206]
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368 condemned the attacks, and expressed readiness to take all necessary steps to respond and combat all forms of terrorism in accordance with their Charter.[207] Numerous countries introduced anti-terrorism legislation and froze bank accounts they suspected of al-Qaeda ties.[208][209] Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in a number of countries arrested alleged terrorists.[210][211]
Tens of thousands of people attempted to flee Afghanistan following the attacks, fearing a response by the United States. Pakistan, already home to many Afghan refugees from previous conflicts, closed its border with Afghanistan on September 17, 2001. Approximately one month after the attacks, the United States led a broad coalition of international forces to overthrow the Taliban regime from Afghanistan for their harboring of al-Qaeda.[212] Though Pakistani authorities were initially reluctant to align themselves with the United States against the Taliban, they permitted the coalition access to their military bases, and arrested and handed over to the U.S. over 600 suspected al-Qaeda members.[213][214]
The U.S. set up the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold inmates they defined as "illegal enemy combatants". The legitimacy of these detentions has been questioned by the European Union and human rights organizations.[215][216][217]
Long-term effects
Economic aftermath

 

 The 9/11 attacks had a major effect on the economy of New York City.
See also: Economic effects arising from the September 11 attacks
The attacks had a significant economic impact on United States and world markets.[218] The stock exchanges did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. Reopening, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8921, a record-setting one-day point decline.[219] By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1,369.7 points (14.3%), at the time its largest one-week point drop in history.[220] In 2001 dollars, U.S. stocks lost $1.4 trillion in valuation for the week.[220]
In New York City, about 430,000 job-months and $2.8 billion dollars in wages were lost in the three months after the attacks. The economic effects were mainly on the economy's export sectors.[221] The city's GDP was estimated to have declined by $27.3 billion for the last three months of 2001 and all of 2002. The U.S. government provided $11.2 billion in immediate assistance to the Government of New York City in September 2001, and $10.5 billion in early 2002 for economic development and infrastructure needs.[222]

 

 U.S. deficit and debt increases 2001–08
Also hurt were small businesses in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center, 18,000 of which were destroyed or displaced, resulting in lost jobs and their consequent wages. Assistance was provided by Small Business Administration loans, federal government Community Development Block Grants, and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.[222] Some 31,900,000 square feet (2,960,000 m2) of Lower Manhattan office space was damaged or destroyed.[223] Many wondered whether these jobs would return, and if the damaged tax base would recover.[224] Studies of the economic effects of 9/11 show the Manhattan office real-estate market and office employment were less affected than first feared, because of the financial services industry's need for face-to-face interaction.[225][226]
North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased upon its reopening, leading to a nearly 20% cutback in air travel capacity, and exacerbating financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.[227]
The September 11 attacks also led indirectly to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,[228] as well as additional homeland security spending, totaling at least $5 trillion.[229]

Health effects
See also: Health effects arising from the September 11 attacks

 

 Survivors were covered in dust after the collapse of the towers.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris containing more than 2,500 contaminants, including known carcinogens, were spread across Lower Manhattan due to the collapse of the Twin Towers.[230][231] Exposure to the toxins in the debris is alleged to have contributed to fatal or debilitating illnesses among people who were at ground zero.[232][233] The Bush administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue reassuring statements regarding air quality in the aftermath of the attacks, citing national security, but the EPA did not determine that air quality had returned to pre-September 11 levels until June 2002.[234]
Health effects extended to residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown.[235] Several deaths have been linked to the toxic dust, and the victims' names were included in the World Trade Center memorial.[236] Approximately 18,000 people have been estimated to have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust.[237] There is also scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products in the air may have negative effects on fetal development. A notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working nearby.[238] A study of rescue workers released in April 2010 found that all those studied had impaired lung functions, and that 30–40% were reporting little or no improvement in persistent symptoms that started within the first year of the attack.[239]
Years after the attacks, legal disputes over the costs of illnesses related to the attacks were still in the court system. On October 17, 2006, a federal judge rejected New York City's refusal to pay for health costs for rescue workers, allowing for the possibility of numerous suits against the city.[240] Government officials have been faulted for urging the public to return to lower Manhattan in the weeks shortly after the attacks. Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the EPA in the aftermath of the attacks, was heavily criticized by a U.S. District Judge for incorrectly saying that the area was environmentally safe.[241] Mayor Giuliani was criticized for urging financial industry personnel to return quickly to the greater Wall Street area.[242]
The United States Congress passed the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act on December 22, 2010, and President Barack Obama signed the act into law on January 2, 2011. It allocated $4.2 billion to create the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides testing and treatment for people suffering from long-term health problems related to the 9/11 attacks.[243][244] The WTC Health Program replaced preexisting 9/11-related health programs such as the Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and the WTC Environmental Health Center program.[244]
Government policies toward terrorism
As a result of the attacks, many governments across the world passed legislation to combat terrorism.[245] In Germany, where several of the 9/11 terrorists had resided and taken advantage of that country's liberal asylum policies, two major anti-terrorism packages were enacted. The first removed legal loopholes that permitted terrorists to live and raise money in Germany. The second addressed the effectiveness and communication of intelligence and law enforcement.[246] Canada passed the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, that nation's first anti-terrorism law.[247] The United Kingdom passed the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.[248][249] New Zealand enacted the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002.[250]
In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security was created to coordinate domestic anti-terrorism efforts. The USA Patriot Act gave the federal government greater powers, including the authority to detain foreign terror suspects for a week without charge, to monitor telephone communications, e-mail, and Internet use by terror suspects, and to prosecute suspected terrorists without time restrictions. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered that airplane cockpits be reinforced to prevent terrorists gaining control of planes, and assigned sky marshals to flights. Further, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act made the federal government, rather than airports, responsible for airport security. The law created a federal security force to inspect passengers and luggage, causing long delays and concern over passenger privacy.[251]
Cultural impact
See also: List of cultural references to the September 11 attacks and List of entertainment affected by the September 11 attacks
The impact of 9/11 extends beyond geopolitics into society and culture in general. Immediate responses to 9/11 included greater focus on home life and time spent with family, higher church attendance, and increased expressions of patriotism such as the flying of flags.[252] The radio industry responded by removing certain songs from playlists, and the attacks have subsequently been used as background, narrative or thematic elements in film, television, music and literature. Already-running television shows as well as programs developed after 9/11 have reflected post-9/11 cultural concerns.[253] 9/11 conspiracy theories have become social phenomena, despite negligible support for such views from expert scientists, engineers, and historians.[254] 9/11 has also had a major impact on the religious faith of many individuals; for some it strengthened, to find consolation to cope with the loss of loved ones and overcome their grief; others started to question their faith or lost it entirely, because they couldn't reconcile it with their view of religion.[255][256]
Investigations
FBI investigation

A head shot of a man in his thirties looking expressionless toward the camera

Mohamed Atta, an Egyptian national, was the ringleader of the hijackers.
Immediately after the attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation started PENTTBOM, the largest criminal inquiry in the history of the United States. At its height, more than half of the FBI's agents worked on the investigation and followed a half-million leads.[257] The FBI concluded that there was "clear and irrefutable" evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks.[258] The FBI was quickly able to identify the hijackers, including leader Mohamed Atta, when his luggage was discovered at Boston's Logan Airport. Atta had been forced to check two of his three bags due to space limitations on the 19-seat commuter flight he took to Boston.[259] Due to a new policy instituted to prevent flight delays, the luggage failed to make it aboard American Airlines Flight 11 as planned. The luggage contained the hijackers' names, assignments and al-Qaeda connections. "It had all these Arab-language (sic) papers that amounted to the Rosetta stone of the investigation", said one FBI agent.[260]
Within hours of the attacks, the FBI released the names and in many cases the personal details of the suspected pilots and hijackers.[261][262] By midday, the U.S. National Security Agency and German intelligence agencies had intercepted communications pointing to Osama bin Laden.[263][264] On September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the 19 hijackers, along with information about possible nationalities and aliases.[265] Fifteen of the men were from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one (Atta) from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.[266]
Origins of the 19 hijackers

Nationality
Number

Saudi Arabia

15
United Arab Emirates

2
Egypt

1
Lebanon

1
9/11 Commission
See also: 9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission), chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, was formed in late 2002 to prepare a thorough account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks.[267] On July 22, 2004, the 9/11 Commission issued the 9/11 Commission Report. The report detailed the events of 9/11, found the attacks were carried out by members of al-Qaeda, and examined how security and intelligence agencies were inadequately coordinated to prevent the attacks. Formed from an independent bipartisan group of mostly former Senators, Representatives, and Governors, the commissioners explained, "We believe the 9/11 attacks revealed four kinds of failures: in imagination, policy, capabilities, and management".[268] The commission made numerous recommendations on how to prevent future attacks, and in 2011 was dismayed that several of its recommendations had yet to be implemented.[269]
Collapse of the World Trade Center
Main articles: Collapse of the World Trade Center and 7 World Trade Center#9/11 and collapse

 

 The exterior support columns from the lower level of the south tower remained standing after the building collapsed.
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigated the collapses of the Twin Towers and 7 WTC. The investigations examined why the buildings collapsed and what fire protection measures were in place, and evaluated how fire protection systems might be improved in future construction.[270] The investigation into the collapse of 1 WTC and 2 WTC was concluded in October 2005 and that of 7 WTC was completed in August 2008.[271]
NIST found that the fireproofing on the Twin Towers' steel infrastructures was blown off by the initial impact of the planes and that, had this not occurred, the towers likely would have remained standing.[272] A 2007 study of the north tower's collapse published by researchers of Purdue University determined that, since the plane's impact had stripped off much of the structure's thermal insulation, the heat from a typical office fire would have softened and weakened the exposed girders and columns enough to initiate the collapse regardless of the number of columns cut or damaged by the impact.[273][274]
The director of the original investigation stated that, "the towers really did amazingly well. The terrorist aircraft didn’t bring the buildings down; it was the fire which followed. It was proven that you could take out two thirds of the columns in a tower and the building would still stand."[275] The fires weakened the trusses supporting the floors, making the floors sag. The sagging floors pulled on the exterior steel columns causing the exterior columns to bow inward. With the damage to the core columns, the buckling exterior columns could no longer support the buildings, causing them to collapse. Additionally, the report found the towers' stairwells were not adequately reinforced to provide adequate emergency escape for people above the impact zones.[276] NIST concluded that uncontrolled fires in 7 WTC caused floor beams and girders to heat and subsequently "caused a critical support column to fail, initiating a fire-induced progressive collapse that brought the building down".[271]
Internal review of the CIA
The Inspector General of the CIA conducted an internal review of the CIA's pre-9/11 performance and was harshly critical of senior CIA officials for not doing everything possible to confront terrorism. He criticized their failure to stop two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, as they entered the United States and their failure to share information on the two men with the FBI.[277] In May 2007, senators from both major U.S. political parties drafted legislation to make the review public. One of the backers, Senator Ron Wyden said, "The American people have a right to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those critical months before 9/11."[278]
Rebuilding and revitalization

 

 New One World Trade Center under construction on September 21, 2012
See also: World Trade Center site and One World Trade Center
On the day of the attacks, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani proclaimed, "We will rebuild. We're going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again."[279]
The damaged section of the Pentagon was rebuilt and occupied within a year of the attacks.[280] The temporary World Trade Center PATH station opened in late 2003 and construction of the new 7 World Trade Center was completed in 2006. Work on rebuilding the main World Trade Center site was delayed until late 2006 when leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed on financing.[281] One World Trade Center is currently under construction at the site and on May 20, 2013, One World Trade Center became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776  ft (541 m) with the installation of the spire that rests atop the building.[282]
On the World Trade Center site, three more office towers are expected to be built one block east of where the original towers stood. Construction has begun on all three of these towers; they are expected to be completed after One World Trade Center.[283]

Memorials

 

 The Tribute in Light on September 11, 2011, on the tenth anniversary of the attacks, seen from New Jersey. The building lit up in red, white, and blue is the new One World Trade Center under construction.
See also: Memorials and services for the September 11 attacks
In the days immediately following the attacks, many memorials and vigils were held around the world. In addition, people posted photographs of the dead and missing all around Ground Zero. A witness described being unable to "get away from faces of innocent victims who were killed. Their pictures are everywhere, on phone booths, street lights, walls of subway stations. Everything reminded me of a huge funeral, people quiet and sad, but also very nice. Before, New York gave me a cold feeling; now people were reaching out to help each other.”[284]
One of the first memorials was the Tribute in Light, an installation of 88 searchlights at the footprints of the World Trade Center towers.[285] In New York, the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was held to design an appropriate memorial on the site.[286] The winning design, Reflecting Absence, was selected in August 2006, and consists of a pair of reflecting pools in the footprints of the towers, surrounded by a list of the victims' names in an underground memorial space.[287] Plans for a museum on the site have been put on hold, following the abandonment of the International Freedom Center in reaction to complaints from the families of many victims.[288]
The Pentagon Memorial was completed and opened to the public on the seventh anniversary of the attacks in 2008.[289][290] It consists of a landscaped park with 184 benches facing the Pentagon.[291] When the Pentagon was repaired in 2001–2002, a private chapel and indoor memorial were included, located at the spot where Flight 77 crashed into the building.[292]
In Shanksville, a permanent Flight 93 National Memorial is planned to include a sculpted grove of trees forming a circle around the crash site, bisected by the plane's path, while wind chimes will bear the names of the victims.[293] A temporary memorial is located 500 yards (457 m) from the crash site.[294] New York City firefighters donated a cross made of steel from the World Trade Center and mounted on top of a platform shaped like the Pentagon.[295] It was installed outside the firehouse on August 25, 2008.[296] Many other permanent memorials are elsewhere. Scholarships and charities have been established by the victims' families, and by many other organizations and private figures.[297]
On every anniversary, in New York City, the names of the victims who died there are read out against a background of somber music. The President of the United States attends a memorial service at the Pentagon,[298] and asks Americans to observe Patriot Day with a moment of silence. Smaller services are held in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, which are usually attended by the President's spouse.

See also

Portal icon September 11 attacks portal
Book icon Book: September 11 attacks

Federal Express Flight 705 – 1994 cockpit attack
Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 – August 2000 cockpit attack
Bojinka plot – plot by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, foiled in 1995, to attack multiple airliners and crash a plane into the CIA headquarters


Citations
Notes
1.Jump up ^ 9/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation. The name is frequently used in British English as well as American English although the dating conventions differ.
References
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2.Jump up ^ Inside 9/11: Zero Hour, National Geographic Channel documentary, 2005.
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60.Jump up ^ "American Airlines Flight 11". CNN. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
61.Jump up ^ "United Airlines Flight 175". CNN. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
62.Jump up ^ "Pentagon". CNN. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
63.Jump up ^ "American Airlines Flight 77". CNN. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
64.Jump up ^ Roddy, Dennis B. (October 2001). "Flight 93: Forty lives, one destiny". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 2006-11-30. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
65.Jump up ^ "Source: Hijacking suspects linked to Afghanistan". CNN. September 30, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
66.Jump up ^ "Ground Zero Forensic Work Ends". CBS News. February 23, 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
67.Jump up ^ Andrade, Beaulieu (August 25, 2011). "Scientists still struggle to identify 9/11 remains". Agence France Presse – English. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
68.Jump up ^ Lemre, Jonathan (August 24, 2011). "Remains of WTC worker Ernest James, 40, ID'd ten years after 9/11". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
69.^ Jump up to: a b Cuza, Bobby (June 11, 2011). "9/11 A Decade Later: DNA Matching Efforts To Continue At WTC Site". NY1. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
70.Jump up ^ World Trade Center victim identified Newsday September 16, 2013
71.^ Jump up to: a b "World Trade Center Building Performance Study". FEMA. May 2002. Archived from the original on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
72.^ Jump up to: a b Summers and Swan (2011), p. 75.
73.Jump up ^ Chaban, Matt (02-09). "130 Liberty Finally Gone from Ground Zero". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
74.Jump up ^ World Trade Center Building Performance Study – Bankers Trust Building, pp ??
75.Jump up ^ "The Deutsche Bank Building at 130 Liberty Street". Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
76.Jump up ^ "Lower Manhattan – Fiterman Hall". LowerManhattan.info. July 1, 2007. Archived from the original on 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
77.Jump up ^ "Verizon Building Restoration". New York Construction (McGraw Hill). Archived from the original on 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
78.Jump up ^ World Trade Center Building Performance Study – Peripheral Buildings, pp. ??
79.Jump up ^ Bloomfield, Larry (October 1, 2001). "New York broadcasters rebuild". Broadcast Engineering. Archived from the original on 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
80.Jump up ^ The Pentagon Building Performance Report, pp. ??
81.Jump up ^ Flight Path Study – American Airlines Flight 77, pp. ??
82.Jump up ^ American Airlines Flight 77 FDR Report, pp. ??
83.^ Jump up to: a b Goldberg (2007), p. 17.
84.Jump up ^ Maclean, John N (June 1, 2008). "America Under Attack: A chronicle of chaos and heroism at the Pentagon". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
85.^ Jump up to: a b McKinsey Report, "Emergency Medical Service response", pp. ??
86.^ Jump up to: a b McKinsey Report, "Executive Summary", pp. ??
87.Jump up ^ McKinsey Report, Exhibit 7, "Fire Apparatus Deployment on September 11"
88.^ Jump up to: a b Alavosius and Rodriquez (2005), pp. 666–680.
89.Jump up ^ McKinsey Report, "NYPD", pp. ??
90.Jump up ^ "Ceremony closes 'Ground Zero' cleanup". CNN. May 30, 2002. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
91.Jump up ^ "Al-Qaeda's origins and links". BBC News. July 20, 2004. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
92.Jump up ^ Gunaratna (2002), pp. 23–33.
93.Jump up ^ "Bin Laden's fatwā (1996)". PBS. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
94.^ Jump up to: a b c "Al Qaeda's 1998 fatwā". PBS NewsHour. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
95.Jump up ^ "Pakistan inquiry orders Bin Laden family to remain". BBC. July 6, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
96.^ Jump up to: a b "Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech". Al Jazeera. November 2, 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
97.Jump up ^ "Pakistan to Demand Taliban Give Up Bin Laden as Iran Seals Afghan Border". Fox News Channel. September 16, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
98.Jump up ^ "Bin Laden on tape: Attacks 'benefited Islam greatly'". CNN. December 14, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-03. "Reveling in the details of the fatal attacks, bin Laden brags in Arabic that he knew about them beforehand and says the destruction went beyond his hopes. He says the attacks "benefited Islam greatly"."
99.Jump up ^ "Transcript: Bin Laden video excerpts". BBC News. December 27, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
100.Jump up ^ Michael, Maggie (October 29, 2004). "Bin Laden, in statement to U.S. people, says he ordered Sept. 11 attacks". SignOnSanDiego.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
101.Jump up ^ "Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan". MSNBC. October 30, 2004. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
102.Jump up ^ "Bin Laden 9/11 planning video aired". CBC News. September 7, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
103.Jump up ^ Clewley, Robin (September 27, 2001). "How Osama Cracked FBI's Top 10". Wired. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
104.Jump up ^ "USAMA BIN LADEN". FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
105.Jump up ^ Baker, Peter; Cooper, Helene (May 1, 2011). "Bin Laden Is Dead, President Obama Says". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
106.Jump up ^ Cooper, Helene (May 1, 2011). "Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
107.Jump up ^ "'We left out nuclear targets, for now'". The Guardian (London). March 4, 2003. Archived from the original on 2008-03-02. Retrieved 2011-09-03. "Yosri Fouda of the Arabic television channel al-Jazeera is the only journalist to have interviewed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda military commander arrested at the weekend. Here he describes the two-day encounter with him and his fellow organiser of September 11, Ramzi bin al- Shibh: [...] Summoning every thread of experience and courage, I looked Khalid in the eye and asked: ‘Did you do it?’ The reference to September 11 was implicit. Khalid responded with little fanfare: ‘I am the head of the al-Qaeda military committee,’ he began, ‘and Ramzi is the coordinator of the Holy Tuesday operation. And yes, we did it.’"
108.Jump up ^ Leonard, Tom; Spillius, Alex (October 10, 2008). "Alleged 9/11 mastermind wants to confess to plot". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
109.^ Jump up to: a b "September 11 suspect 'confesses'". Al Jazeera. March 15, 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
110.Jump up ^ 9/11 Commission Report (2004), p. 147.
111.Jump up ^ "White House power grabs". The Washington Times. August 26, 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
112.Jump up ^ Van Voris, Bob; Hurtado, Patricia (April 4, 2011). "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Terror Indictment Unsealed, Dismissed". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
113.Jump up ^ Shannon, Elaine; Weisskopf, Michael (March 24, 2003). "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Names Names". TIME. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
114.Jump up ^ Nichols, Michelle (May 8, 2008). "US judge orders CIA to turn over 'torture' memo-ACLU". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
115.Jump up ^ "Key 9/11 suspect 'admits guilt'". BBC News. March 15, 2007. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
116.Jump up ^ "Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" (PDF). United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. United States Department of Justice. 2006. p. 24. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
117.Jump up ^ "Spain jails 18 al-Qaeda operatives". The Age (Melbourne). September 27, 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
118.Jump up ^ Naughton, Philippe (June 1, 2006). "Spanish court quashes 9/11 conviction". The Times. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
119.Jump up ^ Summers and Swan (2011), p. 489n.
120.Jump up ^ Youssef, Maamoun (May 24, 2006). "Bin Laden: Moussaoui Not Linked to 9/11". Washington Post. Associated Press.
121.Jump up ^ Summers and Swan (2011), p. 542n.
122.Jump up ^ "The Hamburg connection". BBC News. August 19, 2005.
123.Jump up ^ "Chapter of the 9/11 Commission Report detailing the history of the Hamburg Cell". 9/11 Commission.
124.Jump up ^ Gunarathna, pp. 61–62.
125.Jump up ^ Plotz, David (2001) What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?, Slate
126.Jump up ^ Plotz, David (2001) What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?, Slate
Bergen (2001), p. 3.
Yusufzai, Rahimullah (September 26, 2001). "Face to face with Osama". The Guardian (London). Archived from the original on 2008-01-19. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
"US pulls out of Saudi Arabia". BBC News. April 29, 2003. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
"Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light On the Roots of al Qaeda Terror". Wall Street Journal. July 2, 2002. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
"Tenth Public Hearing, Testimony of Louis Freeh". 9/11 Commission. April 13, 2004. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
"Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front Statement". Federation of American Scientists. February 23, 1998. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
127.Jump up ^ bin Laden, Osama (November 24, 2002). "Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'". The Observer. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
128.^ Jump up to: a b Mearsheimer (2007), p. 67.
Kushner (2003), p. 389.
Murdico (2003), p. 64.
Kelley (2006), p. 207.
Ibrahim (2007), p. 276.
Berner (2007), p. 80.
129.Jump up ^ "Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech". aljazeera. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
bin Laden, Osama (November 24, 2002). "Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'". The Observer. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
130.Jump up ^ "Full transcript of bin Laden's "Letter to America"". The Guardian. November 24, 2002. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
131.Jump up ^ bin Laden, Osama. "Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2012-04-10. "So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider"
132.Jump up ^ Bergen (2001), p. 3.
133.^ Jump up to: a b c "1998 Al Qaeda fatwā". Fas.org. February 23, 1998. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
134.^ Jump up to: a b Yusufzai, Rahimullah (September 26, 2001). "Face to face with Osama". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2011-09-03.
135.Jump up ^ Pape, Robert A. (2005). Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-8129-7338-0.
136.Jump up ^ Text of the 1998 fatwā; translation by PBS
137.Jump up ^ See also the 1998 Al-Qaeda fatwā: "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim." Quoted from Text of the 1998 fatwā; translation by PBS
138.Jump up ^ Summers and Swan (2011), pp. 211, 506n.
139.Jump up ^ Lawrence (2005), p. 239.
140.Jump up ^ online here)
141.Jump up ^ In his taped broadcast from January 2010, Bin Laden said "Our attacks against you [the United States] will continue as long as U.S. support for Israel continues. ... The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of September 11". Quoted from "Bin Laden: Attacks on U.S. to go on as long as it supports Israel", in Haaretz.com
142.Jump up ^ Rockmore, Tom (April 21, 2011). Before and After 9/11: A Philosophical Examination of Globalization, Terror. ISBN 978-1-4411-1892-9. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
143.Jump up ^ Bernard Lewis, 2004. In Bernard Lewis's 2004 book The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, he argues that animosity toward the West is best understood with the decline of the once powerful Ottoman empire, compounded by the import of western ideas — Arab socialism, Arab liberalism and Arab secularism. During the past three centuries, according to this interpretation, the Islamic world has lost its dominance and its leadership, and has fallen behind both the modern West and the rapidly modernizing Orient. The resulting, widening gap poses increasingly acute problems, both practical and emotional, for which the rulers, thinkers, and rebels of Islam have not yet found effective answers.
144.Jump up ^ In an essay titled "The spirit of terrorism", Jean Baudrillard described 9/11 as the first global event that "questions the very process of globalization". Baudrillard. "The spirit of terrorism". Retrieved 2011-06-26.
145.Jump up ^ In an essay entitled "Somebody Else's Civil War", Michael Scott Doran argues the attacks are best understood as part of a religious conflict within the Muslim world and that Bin Laden's followers "consider themselves an island of true believers surrounded by a sea of iniquity". Hoping that U.S. retaliation would unite the faithful against the West, bin Laden sought to spark revolutions in Arab nations and elsewhere. Doran argues the Osama bin Laden videos attempt to provoke a visceral reaction in the Middle East and ensure that Muslim citizens would react as violently as possible to an increase in U.S. involvement in their region. ("Somebody Else's Civil War". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2009-12-05. Reprinted in Hoge, James F.; Rose, Gideon (2005). Understanding the War on Terror. New York: Norton. pp. 72–75. ISBN 978-0-87609-347-4.)
146.Jump up ^ In The Osama bin Laden I Know, Peter Bergen argues the attacks were part of a plan to cause the United States to increase its military and cultural presence in the Middle East, thereby forcing Muslims to confront the idea of a non-Muslim government and to eventually establish conservative Islamic governments in the region.(Bergen (2006), p. 229.)
147.Jump up ^ "Suspect 'reveals 9/11 planning'". BBC News. September 22, 2003. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
148.^ Jump up to: a b c d 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 5, pp ??
149.Jump up ^ Lichtblau, Eric (March 20, 2003). "Bin Laden Chose 9/11 Targets, Al Qaeda Leader Says". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
150.Jump up ^ Wright (2006), p. 308.
151.Jump up ^ Bergen (2006), p. 283.
152.Jump up ^ Wright (2006), pp. 309–315.
153.Jump up ^ McDermott (2005), pp. 191–2.
154.Jump up ^ Bernstein, Richard (September 10, 2002). "On Path to the U.S. Skies, Plot Leader Met bin Laden". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
155.Jump up ^ Wright (2006), pp. 304–7.
156.Jump up ^ Wright (2006), p. 302.
157.Jump up ^ "9/11 commission staff statement No. 16". 9/11 Commission. June 16, 2004. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
158.Jump up ^ "Staff Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel" (PDF). 9/11 Commission. 2004. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
159.Jump up ^ Irujo, Jose Maria (March 21, 2004). "Atta recibió en Tarragona joyas para que los miembros del 'comando' del 11-S se hiciesen pasar por ricos saudíes" (in Spanish). El Pais. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
160.^ Jump up to: a b c d "We Have Some Planes" (PDF). The 911 Commission Report. 911 Commission. pp. 20–42. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
161.Jump up ^ "Cheney: Order To Shoot Down Hijacked 9/11 Planes 'Necessary'". Fox News. September 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
162.Jump up ^ Schrader, Esther (June 18, 2004). "Cheney Gave Order to Shoot Down Jets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
163.Jump up ^ Greer, Gordon (2005). What Price Security?. iUniverse, Inc. p. 73. ISBN 0-595-35792-X.
164.Jump up ^ Hendrix, Steve (September 8, 2011). "F-16 pilot was ready to give her life on Sept. 11". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
165.Jump up ^ FDC (April 13, 2007). "NOTAMs/Flight Restrictions in Effect on 9/13/01" (PDF). Federal Bureau of Investigation (hosted at JudicialWatch). p. 15ff.
166.^ Jump up to: a b "Wartime". National Commission on Terrorists Attacks upon the United States. U.S. Congress. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
167.Jump up ^ "Actions taken following September 11 terrorist attacks" (Press release). Transport Canada. December 11, 2001. Archived from the original on 2002-04-15. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
168.Jump up ^ Stein, Howard F. (2003). "Days of Awe: September 11, 2001 and its Cultural Psychodynamics". Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press) 8 (2): 187–199. doi:10.1353/psy.2003.0047.
169.Jump up ^ "Asthma Rates Up Among Ground Zero Workers". CBS News. Associated Press. Sep. 10, 2009. Retrieved Sep. 11, 2013.
170.Jump up ^ Glynn, Simone A.; Busch, MP; Schreiber, GB; Murphy, EL; Wright, DJ; Tu, Y; Kleinman, SH; Nhlbi Reds Study, Group (2003). "Effect of a National Disaster on Blood Supply and Safety: The September 11 Experience". Journal of the American Medical Association 289 (17): 2246–2253. doi:10.1001/jama.289.17.2246. PMID 12734136.
171.Jump up ^ "Red Cross Woes". PBS. December 19, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
172.Jump up ^ Coates, S.; Schechter, D. (2004). "Preschoolers' traumatic stress post-9/11: Relational and developmental perspectives". Psychiatric Clinics of North America 27 (3): 473–489. doi:10.1016/j.psc.2004.03.006. PMID 15325488.
173.Jump up ^ Schechter DS, Coates SW, First E (2002). Observations of acute reactions of young children and their families to the World Trade Center attacks. Journal of ZERO-TO-THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, 22(3), 9–13.
174.Jump up ^ Coates SW, Rosenthal J, Schechter DS—Eds. (2003). September 11: Trauma and Human Bonds. New York: Taylor and Francis, Inc.
175.Jump up ^ Klein, T. P.; Devoe, E. R.; Miranda-Julian, C.; Linas, K. (2009). "Young children's responses to September 11th: The New York City experience" (PDF). Infant Mental Health Journal 30: 1. doi:10.1002/imhj.20200.
176.Jump up ^ Written, produced and directed by Michael Kirk, produced and reported by Jim Gilmore (March 24, 2008–March 25, 2008). "Bush's War". FRONTLINE. Event occurs at 8:40. PBS. WGBH. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
177.Jump up ^ Roberts, Joel (September 4, 2002). "Plans For Iraq Attack Began On 9/11". CBS News. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
178.Jump up ^ Borger, Julian (February 24, 2006). "Blogger bares Rumsfeld's post 9/11 orders". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2009-10-07.
179.Jump up ^ "Statement by the North Atlantic Council". NATO. September 15, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-04. "Article 5: The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. / Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security."
180.Jump up ^ http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201109/r826557_7555516.pdf
181.Jump up ^ Kuppuswamy, C.S. (November 2, 2005). Terrorism in Indonesia : Role of the Religious Organisation. South Asia Analysis Group. Archived from the original on 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
182.Jump up ^ Banlaoi, Rommel (2006). "Radical Muslim Terrorism in the Philippines". In Tan, Andrew. Handbook on Terrorism and Insurgency in Southeast Asia. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.
183.Jump up ^ "Presidential Approval Ratings – George W. Bush". Gallup. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
184.Jump up ^ Pooley, Eric (December 31, 2001). "Mayor of the World". Person of the Year 2001 (Time Magazine). Retrieved 2011-09-04.
185.Jump up ^ Barrett, Devlin (December 23, 2003). "9/11 Fund Deadline Passes". CBS News. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
186.Jump up ^ "'Shadow Government' News To Congress". CBS News. March 2, 2002. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
187.Jump up ^ "The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original on 2010-01-02. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
188.Jump up ^ "Uncle Sam Asks: "What The Hell Is Going On Here?" in New ACLU Print and Radio Advertisements" (Press release). American Civil Liberties Union. September 3, 2003. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
189.Jump up ^ Eggen, Dan (September 30, 2004). "Key Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional". Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
190.Jump up ^ "Federal judge rules 2 Patriot Act provisions unconstitutional". CNN. September 26, 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
191.Jump up ^ VandeHei, Jim; Eggen, Dan (January 5, 2006). "Cheney Cites Justifications For Domestic Eavesdropping". Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
192.Jump up ^ "New York City Commission on Human Rights". Nyc.gov. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
193.Jump up ^ "Post-9/11, US policies created atmosphere of fear for South Asians". The Indian Express. August 25, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
194.^ Jump up to: a b "Hate crime reports up in wake of terrorist attacks". CNN. September 17, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
195.Jump up ^ "Many minority groups were victims of hate crimes after 9-11". Ball State University. October 9, 2003. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
196.Jump up ^ "American Backlash: Terrorist Bring War Home in More Ways Than One" (PDF). SAALT. 2003. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
197.Jump up ^ Thayil, Jeet (October 12, 2001). "645 racial incidents reported in week after September 11". India Abroad.
198.Jump up ^ American Muslim Leaders. "Muslim Americans Condemn Attack". ISNA. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
199.Jump up ^ Beaulieu, Dan (September 12, 2001). "Muslim groups around world condemn the killing of innocents". Agence France Presse – English.
200.Jump up ^ Davis, Joyce M. (September 13, 2001). "Muslims condemn attacks, insist Islam not violent against innocents". Knight Ridder Washington Bureau.
201.Jump up ^ Witham, Larry (September 12, 2001). "Muslim groups decry attacks; No cause justifies the 'immoral' act, U.S. councils say". The Washington Times.
202.Jump up ^ Hertzberg, Hendrik (September 11, 2006). "Lost love". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2010-08-30. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
203.Jump up ^ "Attacks draw mixed response in Mideast". CNN. September 12, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
204.Jump up ^ Summers, Anthony; Swan, Robbyn (2011). The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 403. ISBN 978-1-4000-6659-9.
205.Jump up ^ "The Kingdom and the Towers". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
206.Jump up ^ "UK | Muslim community targets racial tension". BBC News. September 19, 2001. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
207.Jump up ^ "Security Council Condemns, 'In Strongest Terms', Terrorist Attacks on the United States". United Nations. September 12, 2001. Retrieved 2006-09-11. "The Security Council today, following what it called yesterday’s "horrifying terrorist attacks" in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, unequivocally condemned those acts, and expressed its deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families and to the people and Government of the United States."
208.Jump up ^ Hamilton, Stuart (August 24, 2002). "September 11, the Internet, and the effects on information provision in Libraries" (PDF). 68th IFLA Council and Conference. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
209.Jump up ^ "G8 counter-terrorism cooperation since September 11 backgrounder". Site Internet du Sommet du G8 d'Evian. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
210.Jump up ^ Walsh, Courtney C (March 7, 2002). "Italian police explore Al Qaeda links in cyanide plot". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
211.Jump up ^ "SE Asia unites to smash militant cells". CNN. May 8, 2002. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
212.Jump up ^ "U.S. President Bush's speech to United Nations". CNN. November 10, 2001. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
213.Jump up ^ "Musharraf 'bullied' into supporting US war on terror". Zee News. December 11, 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
214.Jump up ^ Khan, Aamer Ahmed (May 4, 2005). "Pakistan and the 'key al-Qaeda' man". BBC. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
215.Jump up ^ "Euro MPs urge Guantanamo closure". BBC News. June 13, 2006. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
216.Jump up ^ Mendez, Juan E. (March 13, 2002). "Detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Request for Precautionary Measures, Inter-Am. C.H.R". University of Minnesota. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
217.Jump up ^ "USA: Release or fair trials for all remaining Guantánamo detainees". Amnesty International. May 2, 2008. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
218.Jump up ^ Makinen, Gail (September 27, 2002). "The Economic Effects of 9/11: A Retrospective Assessment" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress. p. 17. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
219.Jump up ^ Barnhart, Bill (September 17, 2001). "Markets reopen, plunge". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
220.^ Jump up to: a b Bob, Fernandez (September 22, 2001). "U.S. Markets Decline Again". KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
221.Jump up ^ Dolfman, Michael L.; Wasser, Solidelle F. (2004). "9/11 and the New York City Economy". Monthly Labor Review 127.
222.^ Jump up to: a b Makinen, Gail (September 27, 2002). "The Economic Effects of 9/11: A Retrospective Assessment" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Library of Congress. p. 5. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
223.Jump up ^ Hensell, Lesley (December 14, 2001). "Tough Times Loom For Manhattan Commercial Market". Realty Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
224.Jump up ^ Parrott, James (March 8, 2002). "The Employment Impact of the September 11 World Trade Center Attacks: Updated Estimates based on the Benchmarked Employment Data" (PDF). The Fiscal Policy Institute. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
225.Jump up ^ Fuerst, Franz (September 7, 2005). Exogenous Shocks and Real Estate Rental Markets: An Event Study of the 9/11 Attacks and their Impact on the New York Office Market. Russell Sage Foundation. SSRN 800006.
226.Jump up ^ Russell, James S. (November 7, 2004). "Do skyscrapers still make sense? Revived downtowns and new business models spur tall-building innovation". Architectural Record. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
227.Jump up ^ Bhadra, Dipasis; Texter, Pamela (2004). "Airline Networks: An Econometric Framework to Analyze Domestic U.S. Air Travel". United States Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
228.Jump up ^ Heath, Thomas (May 3, 2011). "Bin Laden’s war against the U.S. economy". The Washington Post.
229.Jump up ^ Khimm, Suzy (May 3, 2011). "Osama bin Laden didn’t win, but he was ‘enormously successful’". The Washington Post.
230.Jump up ^ Gates, Anita (September 11, 2006). "Buildings Rise from Rubble while Health Crumbles". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
231.Jump up ^ "What was Found in the Dust". New York Times. September 5, 2006. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
232.Jump up ^ "New York: 9/11 toxins caused death". CNN. May 24, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
233.Jump up ^ DePalma, Anthony (May 13, 2006). "Tracing Lung Ailments That Rose With 9/11 Dust". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
234.Jump up ^ Heilprin, John (June 23, 2003). "White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
235.Jump up ^ "Updated Ground Zero Report Examines Failure of Government to Protect Citizens". Sierra Club. 2006. Archived from the original on 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
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253.Jump up ^ Quay, Sara; Damico, Amy (September 14, 2010). September 11 in Popular Culture: A Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-35505-9.
254.Jump up ^ Norman, Joshua (September 11, 2011). "9/11 conspiracy theories won't stop". CBS News (CBS Corporation).
255.Jump up ^ Huffington Post (August 29, 2011). "After 9/11, Some Run Toward Faith, Some Run The Other Way". Retrieved 2013-04-06.
256.Jump up ^ PBS Frontline. "Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero – The Question of God". Retrieved 2013-04-06.
257.Jump up ^ "9/11 Investigation (PENTTBOM)". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
258.Jump up ^ "Testimony of Dale L. Watson, Executive Assistant Director, Counterterrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence". Federal Bureau of Investigation. February 6, 2002. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
259.Jump up ^ Sperry, Paul. "Airline denied Atta Paradise Wedding Suit". World News Daily. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
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261.Jump up ^ Clarke, Richard A. (2004). Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terrorism. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-0-7432-6823-3.
262.Jump up ^ "FBI Announces List of 19 Hijackers". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
263.Jump up ^ "Piece by piece, the jigsaw of terror revealed". The Independent. September 30, 2001. Archived from the original on 2009-10-15. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
264.Jump up ^ Tagliabue, John; Bonner, Raymond (September 29, 2001). "A Nation challenged: German Intelligence; German Data Led U.S. to Search For More Suicide Hijacker Teams". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
265.Jump up ^ "The FBI Releases 19 Photographs of Individuals Believed to be the Hijackers of the Four Airliners that Crashed on September 11, 2001". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
266.Jump up ^ Johnston, David (September 9, 2003). "TWO YEARS LATER: 9/11 TACTICS; Official Says Qaeda Recruited Saudi Hijackers to Strain Ties". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
267.Jump up ^ "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States". govinfo.library.unt.edu. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
268.Jump up ^ "Foresight-and Hindsight". National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
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270.Jump up ^ "NIST's World Trade Center Investigation". National Institute of Standards and Technology. U.S. Department of Commerce. December 14, 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
271.^ Jump up to: a b "NIST WTC 7 Investigation Finds Building Fires Caused Collapse". The National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
272.Jump up ^ National Construction Safety Team (September 2005). Executive Summary (PDF). "Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers". National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States Department of Commerce). Retrieved 2011-04-10.
273.Jump up ^ Irfanoglu, A.; Hoffmann, C. M. (2008). "Engineering Perspective of the Collapse of WTC-I". Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities (American Society of Civil Engineers) 22: 62. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3828(2008)22:1(62). "As the aircraft debris went through several stories in the tower, much of the thermal insulation on the core columns would have been scoured off. Under such conditions, the ensuing fire would be sufficient to cause instability and initiate collapse. From an engineering perspective, impact damage to the core structure had a negligible effect on the critical thermal load required to initiate collapse in the core structure."
274.Jump up ^ Tally, Steve (June 12, 2007). "Purdue creates scientifically based animation of 9/11 attack". Purdue News Service. Retrieved 2011-09-04. "The aircraft moved through the building as if it were a hot and fast lava flow," Sozen says. "Consequently, much of the fireproofing insulation was ripped off the structure. Even if all of the columns and girders had survived the impact – an unlikely event – the structure would fail as the result of a buckling of the columns. The heat from an ordinary office fire would suffice to soften and weaken the unprotected steel. Evaluation of the effects of the fire on the core column structure, with the insulation removed by the impact, showed that collapse would follow whatever the number of columns cut at the time of the impact."
275.Jump up ^ Sigmund, Pete (September 25, 2002). "Building a Terror-Proof Skyscraper: Experts Debate Feasibility, Options". Retrieved 2012-04-11.
276.Jump up ^ "Translating WTC Recommendations Into Model Building Codes". National Institute of Standards and Technology. October 25, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
277.Jump up ^ "Deep Background". American Conservative. April 1, 2005. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
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279.Jump up ^ Taylor, Tess (September 26, 2001). "Rebuilding in New York" (68). Architecture Week. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
280.Jump up ^ Oglesby, Christy (September 11, 2002). "Phoenix rises: Pentagon honors 'hard-hat patriots'". CNN. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
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282.Jump up ^ Dunlap, David W.; Collins, Glenn (June 28, 2006). "Revised Design for Freedom Tower Unveiled". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
283.Jump up ^ "Lower Manhattan: Current Construction". Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
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285.Jump up ^ "Tribute in light to New York victims". BBC News. March 6, 2002. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
286.Jump up ^ "About the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition". World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
287.Jump up ^ "WTC Memorial Construction Begins". CBS News. March 6, 2006. Retrieved 2011-09-04. |coauthors= requires |author= (help)
288.Jump up ^ Dunlap, David (September 25, 2005). "Governor Bars Freedom Center at Ground Zero". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
289.Jump up ^ Miroff, Nick (September 11, 2008). "Creating a Place Like No Other". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company). Retrieved 2011-09-04.
290.Jump up ^ Miroff, Nick (September 12, 2008). "A Long-Awaited Opening, Bringing Closure to Many". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company). Retrieved 2011-09-04.
291.Jump up ^ Dwyer, Timothy (May 26, 2007). "Pentagon Memorial Progress Is Step Forward for Families". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
292.Jump up ^ "DefenseLINK News Photos – Pentagon's America's Heroes Memorial". Department of Defense. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
293.Jump up ^ "Sept. 11 Flight 93 Memorial Design Chosen". Fox News. September 8, 2005. Retrieved 2011-09-04. |coauthors= requires |author= (help)
294.Jump up ^ "Flight 93 Memorial Project". Flight 93 Memorial Project / National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
295.Jump up ^ Nephin, Dan (August 24, 2008). "Steel cross goes up near flight's 9/11 Pa. crash site". Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
296.Jump up ^ Gaskell, Stephanie (August 25, 2008). "Pa. site of 9/11 crash gets WTC beam". New York Daily news. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
297.Jump up ^ Fessenden, Ford (November 18, 2002). "9/11; After the World Gave: Where $2 Billion in Kindness Ended Up". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
298.Jump up ^ Newman, Andy (September 11, 2010). "At a Memorial Ceremony, Loss and Tension". The New York Times.
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Gunaratna, Ronan (2002). Inside Al Qaeda: global network of terror. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12692-2.
Holmes, Stephen (2006). "Al Qaeda, September 11, 2001". In Diego Gambetta. Making sense of suicide missions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929797-9.
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McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers. HarperCollins. pp. 191–192. ISBN 978-0-06-058470-2.
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Mearsheimer, John J. (2007). The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-374-17772-0.
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Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower|The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41486-2.
Further reading
"The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States". National Commission O Terrorist Attacks (Cosimo, Inc). July 30, 2010. ISBN 978-1-61640-219-8.
Atkins, Stephen E (2011). The 9/11 Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-921-9.
Bolton, M. Kent (2006). U.S. National Security and Foreign Policymaking After 9/11: Present at the Re-creation. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-5900-4.
Caraley, Demetrios (2002). September 11, terrorist attacks, and U.S. foreign policy. Academy of Political Science. ISBN 978-1-884853-01-2.
Chernick, Howard (2005). Resilient city: the economic impact of 9/11. Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN 978-0-87154-170-3.
Damico, Amy M; Quay, Sara E. (2010). September 11 in Popular Culture: A Guide. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-35505-9.
Hampton, Wilborn (2003). September 11, 2001: attack on New York City. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-1949-7.
Langley, Andrew (2006). September 11: Attack on America. Compass Point Books. ISBN 978-0-7565-1620-8.
Neria, Yuval; Gross, Raz; Marshall, Randall D.; Susser, Ezra S. (2006). 9/11: mental health in the wake of terrorist attacks. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83191-8.
Strasser, Steven; Whitney, Craig R; United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (2004). The 9/11 investigations: staff reports of the 9/11 Commission: excerpts from the House-Senate joint inquiry report on 9/11: testimony from fourteen key witnesses, including Richard Clarke, George Tenet, and Condoleezza Rice. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-279-4.
External links
General
Find more about September 11 at Wikipedia's sister projects
 Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
 Media from Commons
 Learning resources from Wikiversity
 Quotations from Wikiquote
 Source texts from Wikisource
 Textbooks from Wikibooks
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States official commission website
National September 11th Memorial and Museum – List of victims
September 11, 2001, Documentary Project from the U.S. Library of Congress, Memory.loc.gov
September 11, 2001, Web Archive from the U.S. Library of Congress, Minerva
The September 11th Sourcebooks from The National Security Archive
September 11 Digital Archive: Saving the Histories of September 11, 2001 from the Center for History and New Media and the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
DoD: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Verbatim Transcript of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10024, From WikiSource
Multimedia
Understanding 9/11 – A Television News Archive at Internet Archive
CNN.com – Video archive, including the first and second planes.
Remembering 9/11 – National Geographic Society
Latest video of Sept 9/11 attack emerges published by International Business Times HK
Time.com – 'Shattered: a remarkable collection of photographs', James Nachtwey
September 11, 2001 Screenshot Archive – Database of 230 screenshots from news sites around the world.
September 11 attacks in the Newseum archive of front page images from 2001-09-12.

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Categories: 2001 fires
2001 in New York
2001 in Pennsylvania
2001 in the United States
2001 in Virginia
2001 murders in the United States
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by hijacking
Building fires in New York City
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Disasters in Virginia
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Mass murder in 2001
September 11 attacks
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