NASA Stepped Up Security Measures Shortly After 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, Russian Cosmonaut Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NASA acted promptly to enhance security measures at its Johnson Space Center in Houston in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who was training at the center at the time for a space flight in an American shuttle, told Sputnik.

Yurchikhin is a laureate of the Hero of the Russian Federation merit award.

"The first conclusions from the situation were drawn very quickly, in the very first days. The Johnson Space Center is located far from the places of the terrorist attacks. Everyone there knew each other, and there were no outsiders. Nevertheless, the security service immediately introduced new questionnaires and obligated all Johnson Centre employees to fill them out, including the Russian delegation. They demanded that everyone update passwords on their computers, making them principally new, more complex and long. Security measures had been implemented for several months in a row," Yurchikhin said.

Unlike the space centre, the city of Houston in Texas did not introduce any obvious security enhancements, the cosmonaut said, recalling the atmosphere as "remaining quiet, calm, in the same pace."

On 11 September 2001, terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Another plane that was seized to be used for a terrorist attack crashed in Pennsylvania before reaching its presumed target. Al-Qaeda* claimed the responsibility for the attacks, which claimed 2,997 lives.

*Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other nations.