By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-to-watch-9-11-memorial-events-as-u-s-marks-25th-anniversary Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter How to watch 9/11 memorial events as U.S. marks 25th anniversary Nation Sep 10, 2026 5:19 PM EDT Americans are marking a milestone anniversary this week for the catastrophic, era-defining Sept. 11 attacks. Twenty-five years ago, the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center's North Tower in New York at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later, a second plane hit the South Tower. Both towers collapsed. Hijackers steered a third plane into the Pentagon. And passengers aboard a fourth fought back against their assailants, causing the plane to crash into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Communities across the country will gather Friday in ceremonies large and small to mark the national tragedy. Here's a short guide to three 9/11 sites and the events taking place there on the 25th anniversary. A seventh moment of silence in New York A flag amongst the names on the South Pool at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters For its annual commemoration ceremony in Manhattan, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum typically observes six moments of silence to honor the thousands of victims killed in the attacks. The silences are timed to major moments when the attacks unfolded: when hijackers struck each of the World Trade Center towers, when the buildings collapsed, and when planes separately crashed into the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. For the 25th anniversary, the museum made a change to its programming — a new, seventh moment of silence for those in lower Manhattan who have died from illnesses or injuries connected to the attacks, a number that now surpasses the nearly 3,000 killed on Sept. 11. The seventh moment of silence will be held Friday after the traditional reading of the names of those killed in the 2001 attacks and 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The museum is livestreaming the event on its website, beginning at 8:40 a.m. EDT. The first moment of silence will happen at 8:46 a.m., or when the first plane struck the North Tower 25 years ago. The quarter-century milestone is an opportunity to acknowledge that many Americans were either too young or weren't yet alive to recall the national tragedy, museum CEO Beth Hillman told reporters last month. "Each year we vow to never forget," Hillman said. "As time moves forward that vow becomes even more important." READ MORE: 9/11 is not a federal holiday. Here's why Four ex-presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — as well as former New York Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are planning on attending Friday's ceremony at Ground Zero. Trump expected to deliver remarks at the Pentagon President Donald Trump is expected to speak during a 9/11 observance ceremony Friday, starting at 9 a.m. EDT. Watch live in the player above. The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, honors the 184 people who died when a hijacked plane struck the side of the Department of Defense headquarters, killing everyone aboard the aircraft and 125 inside the building. The memorial, authorized by Congress in 2001 and opened on Pentagon grounds in 2008, dedicated a stainless steel bench for each victim, arching over a tiny, shallow pool of water. It's located on the southeastern side of the Pentagon, near where Flight 77 hit the building. The Pentagon is holding an observance ceremony Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT, that includes a reading of victims' names and remarks by President Donald Trump. PBS News is livestreaming the event here. WATCH: What Trump told reporters near Ground Zero in 2001 The New York Times reported last month that Trump originally wanted to speak at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum for the anniversary, but organizers traditionally don't allow speeches to keep the event nonpartisan. The president spoke briefly at last year's Pentagon ceremony. Days before the 25th anniversary, the National Park Service announced the designation of the Pentagon's memorial site as an "Affiliated Area of the National Park System." The formal recognition underscores the site's national significance, park officials said. Construction crews are expected to break ground a day after the 25th anniversary for a $35 million visitor education center near the memorial site. The center, which has experienced delays, is slated to open in 2029. In Pennsylvania, a memorial to a flight that never reached its runway The 9/11 commemorative ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, will begin Friday at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Watch the event in the player above. Forty passengers and crew members aboard United Flight 93 died on Sept. 11, 2001, after thwarting hijackers' plans to steer the plane into its intended target in Washington, D.C. Today, a white marble wall bearing their names tracks the plane's flight path that day as it descended and crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The Flight 93 National Memorial, managed by the National Park Service, is holding a day of remembrances on the 25th anniversary, beginning with a morning observance at 8:30 a.m. EDT near the site's Memorial Plaza, close to the visitor center and Wall of Names. The Wall of Names is pictured at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Photo by Hannah Beier/Reuters A reading of victims' names, a musical performance and ringing of the Bells of Remembrance are scheduled for the morning observation, as well as wreath layings near the visitor center timed to each planned Sept. 11 attack. In the afternoon, a ceremony at 1 p.m. EDT will include keynote speakers, including remarks from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, more musical performances and a separate wreath-laying at the Wall of Names. The memorial park is livestreaming both events on YouTube. How PBS News is marking the anniversary PBS News is marking the 25th anniversary this week by recalling the events of the day and examining how the lingering aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is still felt today. 25 years ago, pilot Heather "Lucky" Penney was ordered on a "suicide mission." Her commander sent her and her wingman on a mission that would have meant sacrificing themselves to stop Flight 93. The PBS News Hour studio is minutes away from the Pentagon. The crews who rushed there that day recall the "total chaos" of reporting at the scene of that crash. Special correspondent Judy Woodruff visited the September 11 memorial in New York to look at how the attacks continue to shape Americans' lives 25 years later. Watch the clip in the player above. From the PBS News archives, poet Lucille Clifton reads part of a seven-poem suite that reflects her in-the-moment reactions to the 9/11 attacks and the fallout in the days afterward. Clifton, who watched the towers fall on TV from Maryland, opens "september song: a poem in seven days," with the "thunder and lighting" of the devastation in New York and then reads about the birth of her new granddaughter Bailey "into a violent world," and love as a prevailing force. Her reading aired on the PBS News Hour for the fifth anniversary of the attacks in 2006. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas is a senior editor for the PBS NewsHour's Communities Initiative. He's also the senior editor and manager of newsletters. @Josh_Barrage
Americans are marking a milestone anniversary this week for the catastrophic, era-defining Sept. 11 attacks. Twenty-five years ago, the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center's North Tower in New York at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later, a second plane hit the South Tower. Both towers collapsed. Hijackers steered a third plane into the Pentagon. And passengers aboard a fourth fought back against their assailants, causing the plane to crash into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Communities across the country will gather Friday in ceremonies large and small to mark the national tragedy. Here's a short guide to three 9/11 sites and the events taking place there on the 25th anniversary. A seventh moment of silence in New York A flag amongst the names on the South Pool at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters For its annual commemoration ceremony in Manhattan, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum typically observes six moments of silence to honor the thousands of victims killed in the attacks. The silences are timed to major moments when the attacks unfolded: when hijackers struck each of the World Trade Center towers, when the buildings collapsed, and when planes separately crashed into the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. For the 25th anniversary, the museum made a change to its programming — a new, seventh moment of silence for those in lower Manhattan who have died from illnesses or injuries connected to the attacks, a number that now surpasses the nearly 3,000 killed on Sept. 11. The seventh moment of silence will be held Friday after the traditional reading of the names of those killed in the 2001 attacks and 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The museum is livestreaming the event on its website, beginning at 8:40 a.m. EDT. The first moment of silence will happen at 8:46 a.m., or when the first plane struck the North Tower 25 years ago. The quarter-century milestone is an opportunity to acknowledge that many Americans were either too young or weren't yet alive to recall the national tragedy, museum CEO Beth Hillman told reporters last month. "Each year we vow to never forget," Hillman said. "As time moves forward that vow becomes even more important." READ MORE: 9/11 is not a federal holiday. Here's why Four ex-presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — as well as former New York Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are planning on attending Friday's ceremony at Ground Zero. Trump expected to deliver remarks at the Pentagon President Donald Trump is expected to speak during a 9/11 observance ceremony Friday, starting at 9 a.m. EDT. Watch live in the player above. The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, honors the 184 people who died when a hijacked plane struck the side of the Department of Defense headquarters, killing everyone aboard the aircraft and 125 inside the building. The memorial, authorized by Congress in 2001 and opened on Pentagon grounds in 2008, dedicated a stainless steel bench for each victim, arching over a tiny, shallow pool of water. It's located on the southeastern side of the Pentagon, near where Flight 77 hit the building. The Pentagon is holding an observance ceremony Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT, that includes a reading of victims' names and remarks by President Donald Trump. PBS News is livestreaming the event here. WATCH: What Trump told reporters near Ground Zero in 2001 The New York Times reported last month that Trump originally wanted to speak at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum for the anniversary, but organizers traditionally don't allow speeches to keep the event nonpartisan. The president spoke briefly at last year's Pentagon ceremony. Days before the 25th anniversary, the National Park Service announced the designation of the Pentagon's memorial site as an "Affiliated Area of the National Park System." The formal recognition underscores the site's national significance, park officials said. Construction crews are expected to break ground a day after the 25th anniversary for a $35 million visitor education center near the memorial site. The center, which has experienced delays, is slated to open in 2029. In Pennsylvania, a memorial to a flight that never reached its runway The 9/11 commemorative ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, will begin Friday at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Watch the event in the player above. Forty passengers and crew members aboard United Flight 93 died on Sept. 11, 2001, after thwarting hijackers' plans to steer the plane into its intended target in Washington, D.C. Today, a white marble wall bearing their names tracks the plane's flight path that day as it descended and crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The Flight 93 National Memorial, managed by the National Park Service, is holding a day of remembrances on the 25th anniversary, beginning with a morning observance at 8:30 a.m. EDT near the site's Memorial Plaza, close to the visitor center and Wall of Names. The Wall of Names is pictured at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Photo by Hannah Beier/Reuters A reading of victims' names, a musical performance and ringing of the Bells of Remembrance are scheduled for the morning observation, as well as wreath layings near the visitor center timed to each planned Sept. 11 attack. In the afternoon, a ceremony at 1 p.m. EDT will include keynote speakers, including remarks from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, more musical performances and a separate wreath-laying at the Wall of Names. The memorial park is livestreaming both events on YouTube. How PBS News is marking the anniversary PBS News is marking the 25th anniversary this week by recalling the events of the day and examining how the lingering aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is still felt today. 25 years ago, pilot Heather "Lucky" Penney was ordered on a "suicide mission." Her commander sent her and her wingman on a mission that would have meant sacrificing themselves to stop Flight 93. The PBS News Hour studio is minutes away from the Pentagon. The crews who rushed there that day recall the "total chaos" of reporting at the scene of that crash. Special correspondent Judy Woodruff visited the September 11 memorial in New York to look at how the attacks continue to shape Americans' lives 25 years later. Watch the clip in the player above. From the PBS News archives, poet Lucille Clifton reads part of a seven-poem suite that reflects her in-the-moment reactions to the 9/11 attacks and the fallout in the days afterward. Clifton, who watched the towers fall on TV from Maryland, opens "september song: a poem in seven days," with the "thunder and lighting" of the devastation in New York and then reads about the birth of her new granddaughter Bailey "into a violent world," and love as a prevailing force. Her reading aired on the PBS News Hour for the fifth anniversary of the attacks in 2006. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now