SpaceIL: Israel’s race to the moon

By Tom Tugend
Published on February 19, 2013

One day in 2015, a small Israeli spacecraft will land on and reconnoiter the moon, joining the United States and former Soviet Union in the world’s most exclusive extraterrestrial club.

10 years to the Columbia Disaster

By Noga Gur-Arieh
Published on February 1, 2013

Israel ready to train new astronaut

Published on January 31, 2013

Ten years after the death of Ilan Ramon on the space shuttle Columbia, Israel is ready to train a new astronaut.

Space Shuttle Columbia: From Shoah to the stars

By Pat Sierchio
Published on January 23, 2013

On Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, tragically taking the lives of all seven astronauts on board. Among those who never returned home were Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon — Israel’s first and only astronaut — and a miniature Torah dating back to the Holocaust.

Space center dedicated in Arab-Israeli city drops Ramon’s name

Published on October 24, 2012

A space center that opened in the Arab-Israeli city of Taybeh was not named for the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon following opposition from city residents. The Taybeh Space Center was dedicated Tuesday. It was to be called the Ilan Ramon Space Center. Instead, under the name of the center it will be inscribed, "To perpetuate the memory of astronaut Ilan Ramon."

Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon’s widow to attend school renaming event

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 21, 2012

Rona Ramon, widow of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the Columbia space shuttle disaster, will join in a festive event on March 25, marking the renaming of a Jewish day school in her husband’s honor.

Sept. 21-Sept. 30

By Ryan Torok
Published on September 21, 2011

Marking a new beginning for the Agoura Hills Jewish day school, tonight’s party celebrates Heschel West Day School’s re-naming for Israel’s first astronaut — Ilan Ramon Day School.

Astronaut Ilan Ramon’s son dies in IAF crash

Published on September 13, 2009

The son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon was killed in the crash of an Israeli Air Force fighter plane.

‘Tragic Loss’ documents Israeli astronaut’s ill-fated flight

By Robert David Jaffee
Published on March 8, 2007

For the Kids

By Abby Gilad
Published on February 13, 2003

One year ago, Kol Tikvah Religious School in Woodland Hills started a letter-writing campaign to Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

We Soared With Ilan

By Yuval Rotem
Published on February 6, 2003

Yuval Rotem, Israeli consul general for the Western United States, delivered these remarks at a Feb. 1 dinner for Pressman Academy,
honoring him and his wife, Miri, at the Airport Westin Hotel.

Light From Sorrow

By Irene Brown
Published on February 6, 2003

As an aerospace writer, I have watched 87 crews slip the bonds of Earth's gravity and rocket away into space.

Ramon Memorialized Across America

By Rachel Pomerance
Published on February 6, 2003

The groundswell of emotion in response to Ilan Ramon's death has not only been a great inspiration for American Jews, it also has helped strengthen the bond Americans feel for Israel.

"It's a state of mourning for the whole nation. Our school is no different," said Joseph "J.P." Schwarcz, 18, a Yeshiva University freshmanin New York.

At the same time, Schwarcz was quick to note the distinct status of Israel's representative on board, Ramon, as a role model for Jews.

"Throughout the whole week, our deans have come into our class and discussed with us how we should be just like Ilan Ramon," he said.

In mourning the tragic flight of the whole Columbia crew, Jews across America are especially touched by the loss of Ramon. Whether Jews saw him as pioneer or peacemaker, most saw him as the best of the Jewish people.

Moments of Silence

By Rob Eshman
Published on February 6, 2003

There were a lot of moments of silence this week. There was the one early Saturday morning when you first heard the news of the space shuttle Columbia's disappearance.

I Grieve for the Man Who’ll Never Return

By Yitzhak Ben-Horin
Published on February 6, 2003

His face peered out this week from every television set in the United States. It was impossible to escape him. It was impossible to stop looking at him. My heart ached, a real heartache. This time, I couldn't stop the tears.

Even I'm allowed. So what if I'm a cynical journalist who, in a career spanning over 30 years, covered wars, earthquakes, terrorist attacks and grieving families? I always tried to block emotions and hide behind my mask of professionalism.

Last Saturday morning, the mask broke.

Israel Mourns

By Naomi Segal
Published on February 6, 2003

Even for Israelis hardened by years of dealing with Palestinian terrorism, the death of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon came as a
difficult blow.

Where No Israeli Has Gone Before

By Yitzhak Ben-Horin
Published on January 9, 2003

Ilan Ramon walks the pathways of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, slowed by the weight of the thick book under his arm. It's the bible of the "magnificent seven" -- the group of astronauts scheduled to blast off in the space shuttle Columbia Jan. 16 from the Kennedy Space Center. Among these elite seven, for the first time, will be an Israeli astronaut.

Ramon, 48, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force (IAF), counts among his experience more than 4,000 hours in fighter jets. Following a decision by President Bill Clinton in 1995, the United States and Israel signed an agreement stipulating that an Israeli astronaut would fly on a U.S. space shuttle as a payload specialist, supervising an Israeli scientific experiment.