7:59 a.m.(01 of15)
Open Image ModalThe four airplanes that were hijacked on 9/11 began taking off at 7:59 a.m.\n\nThe first to depart was American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 that left Boston\'s Logan International Airport for Los Angles with 92 people on board.\n\nAt 8:14 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 -- a Boeing 767 with 65 passengers on board -- also left Logan for Los Angeles.\n\nAmerican Airlines Flight 77 left Washington Dulles International Airport at 8:20 a.m. The plane, a Boeing 757 with 64 people on board, was bound for Los Angeles.\n\nFinally, at 8:42 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport. The Boeing 757, which had 44 passengers that morning, was bound for San Francisco. (credit:Getty)
8:46 a.m.(02 of15)
Open Image ModalThe first crash occurred at 8:46 a.m. when Flight 11 hit the north tower of New York\'s World Trade Center.\n\nAccording to the 9/11 Commission Report, two flight attendants contacted American Airlines as the plane was being hijacked to provide details of the emergency. They reported the use of Mace or a similar spray, several stabbings and a bomb threat.\n\nThe last known communication from the plane came when flight attendant Madeline \"Amy\" Sweeney, on the phone with American Flight Services manager Michael Woodward, said, \"Oh my God we are way too low.\" (credit:Getty)
9:03 a.m.(03 of15)
Open Image ModalThe second crash happened at 9:03 a.m., when Flight 175 hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.\n\nThe last communication made with air traffic control was made at 8:42 a.m., but passengers were able to provide details of the flight by contacting their families by phone.\n\nBrian Sweeney called his wife, Julie, to tell her the plane had been hijacked, and Peter Hansen told his father, Lee, \"I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building.\" (credit:AP)
9:05 a.m.(04 of15)
Open Image ModalPresident George W. Bush learned of the attacks at 9:05 a.m. while sitting in a second grade classroom at an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed him of the attacks, whispering into his ear during the students\' reading lesson.\n\nBush recently shared his memories of that day with National Geographic. When he received news of the first plane crash at 8:50 a.m. -- just before entering the classroom -- he thought it was \"a light aircraft, and my reaction was, man, the weather was bad or something extraordinary happened to the pilot.\"\n\nIt wasn\'t until Card informed him of the second plane that Bush knew America was under attack. (credit:AP)
9:31 a.m.(05 of15)
Open Image ModalIn an address from Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, President Bush called the attacks \"a national tragedy\" and \"an apparent terrorist attack on our country.\"\n\n\"I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act,\" Bush said.\n\n\"Terrorism against our nation will not stand.\" (credit:AP)
9:36 a.m.(06 of15)
Open Image ModalAt 9:36 a.m., Secret Service agents evacuated Vice President Dick Cheney and his aides from his office to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a Cold War-era bunker beneath the White House. (credit:AP)
9:37 a.m.(07 of15)
Open Image ModalFlight 77 crashed into Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.\n\nThe 9/11 Commission Report tells how passenger Barbara Olson called her husband Ted -- the solicitor general of the United States -- to inform him of the attacks. She reported that the flight had been taken over and that the aircraft was \"flying low over houses.\"\n\nA few minutes later, air traffic controllers at Dulles International Airport observed plane on their radar traveling at \"a high rate of speed.\" Officials from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport warned the Secret Service of the aircraft shortly before Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. (credit:AP)
9:45 a.m.(08 of15)
Open Image ModalAt 9:45 a.m. -- minutes after Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon -- the White House and U.S. Capitol were evacuated. (credit:Getty)
9:59 a.m.(09 of15)
Open Image ModalAfter burning for 56 minutes, the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed at 9:59 a.m. The fall, which killed approximately 600 workers and first responders, lasted 10 seconds. (credit:Getty)
10:03 a.m.(10 of15)
Open Image Modal10:28 a.m.(11 of15)
Open Image ModalAt 10:28 a.m., after burning for 102 minutes, the north tower of New York\'s World Trade Center collapsed, killing approximately 1,400 people. (credit:Getty)
11:02 a.m.(12 of15)
Open Image ModalNew York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ordered an evacuation of lower Manhattan at 11:02 a.m., alerting everyone south of Canal Street to get out. (credit:AP)
1:04 p.m.(13 of15)
Open Image ModalAt 1:04 p.m., after all American air space had been cleared, President Bush addressed the nation from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, informing citizens that the U.S. military \"at home and around the world is on high alert status.\"\n\n\"Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts,\" Bush said. (credit:AP)
5:20 p.m.(14 of15)
Open Image ModalHours after the attacks that morning, the 47-story 7 World Trade Center building collapsed from ancillary damage. No one was in the building at the time. (credit:Getty)
8:30 p.m.(15 of15)
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