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There is evidence that the timeline of Star Trek had already diverged from our own by the middle of the 20th century. Are there any materials, at any level of canon, that describe the fate of the Twin Towers (World Trade Center) in Manhattan?

  • Were they destroyed on September 11, 2001 as they were in our universe?
  • Were they destroyed in some other manner or at some other time (e.g. destroyed by the Xindi, Romulans, Klingons, etc. as an act of war, intentionally disassembled to build a spaceport, accidentally set on fire due to testing a flawed antimatter power inverter coupling as part of an upgrade to their air conditioning system, etc.)?
  • Are they shown as still standing at some (post 2001) point and implied to be safe?
  • Did they never exist in the Star Trek universe (as @MAGolding mentioned as a possibility)?

If the Twin Towers are actually shown on-screen or spoken of as existing, this counts, even if the reference was filmed/published prior to 2001 when it was assumed that the Twin Towers would not be coming down anytime soon, unless the presence of the Twin Towers has been retconned.

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    If not in 9/11, then possibly during WW3 which according to first contact devastated most population centers
    – CBredlow
    Dec 17, 2017 at 4:47
  • @CBredlow perhaps, but is there any specific indication? There is in fact evidence that the destruction was not total, as we see that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco survived OK into the 24th century at least.
    – Robert Columbia
    Dec 17, 2017 at 4:59
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    Robert columbia - aren't you assuming that the twin towers would be built in the Star Trek universe - which does not seem inevitable.
    – M. A. Golding
    Dec 17, 2017 at 6:42
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    According to the answer, it looks like some Star trek novels and fiction have the attack on the twin towers happening. Thus the 911 attacks are as canonical in Star Trek as someone considers the Star Trek fiction to be.
    – M. A. Golding
    Dec 17, 2017 at 18:03
  • As someone else has stated, there’s no evidence that the Twin Towers even exist(ed) in the Star Trek universe. You can’t assume it. It’s only speculation to think that a “terrorist attack” was also responsible for their fall in the fictional Star Trek universe. It just can’t be known. And, of course, Star Trek novels have always been non-canon. It’s not a question of whether someone considers the novels canonical: they’re not, end of story.
    – Ham Sandwich
    Dec 19, 2017 at 3:34

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If by "any level of canon", you're including the Extended Universe, there was a reference in one of the Corps of Engineers novels (ST: COE - Malefictorum) by a character whose ancestor who was a New York firefighter in the early 21st Century.

“You’re right,” Corsi said, rubbing a hand over her face in an attempt to clear the mental cobwebs. “It was an ancestor of my father’s. He was a firefighter back in New York at the start of the twenty-first century. He got killed in the line of duty during a terrorist attack on the city. Remember when the Breen attacked San Francisco during the war? From what I’ve read, it was like that".

Also, Strange New Worlds 8 contains a story called 'Assignment: One' in which Gary Seven prevents Shaun Christopher (the son of Major Christopher from 'Tomorrow is Yesterday') from boarding one of the planes used by the hijackers.

Shaun noticed a large crowd standing facing a TV monitor tuned to CNN. It was showing the World Trade Center in New York City. Smoke was coming out of one of the towers. Shaun heard something about a plane crash. Whoa. Some accident. He recalled that in the 1940s a plane had once crashed into the Empire State Building. A dozen or so people had died.

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    I've taken the liberty of editing in some book quotes. Good finds.
    – Valorum
    Dec 17, 2017 at 14:14
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    I never object to someone making me look better. The Seven reference was easy to find but I didn't have the COE book at hand.
    – Emsley Wyatt
    Dec 17, 2017 at 14:58
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    Good team work! That is how it is done! +1 to you both!
    – Odin1806
    Dec 17, 2017 at 17:28

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