Israel Commemorates the Columbia Disaster and the Death of Ilan Ramon

The 10th anniversary of the Columbia disaster is felt particularly keenly in Israel. The disaster took the life of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, who was among the crew of the last flight of the space shuttle Columbia.

Various events are being conducted in Israel and by Israelis to commemorate the disaster.

Israel opens space and science center in Herzliya

According to the Jewish Press, NASA administrator Charles Bolden was on hand to commemorate the establishment of a space and science center in the Israeli town of Herzliya, in Galilee between the Haifa coast and the Kinneret. The center is currently engaged in the processing and tracking of Israeli satellites as well as the education of local students. Bolden was one of 14 space agency heads who were present for the occasion, which also kicked off a several-day "space week" in the Jewish state, according to the Times of Israel. Bolden suggested that the next Israeli astronaut would likely be included in one of NASA's planned deep space missions and not on a mission to the International Space Station, since Israel is not a partner in the ISS.

Israeli students visit the Florida space coast

Florida Today reports that a group of Israeli students and their teachers visited the Kennedy Space Center and other destinations on the Florida space coast on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the loss of Columbia. All attend the same school that Ilan Ramon attended. Because of Ramon's sacrifice, there is an upsurge in interest on aerospace subjects in Israel.

Israeli space program

A recent article in Space Quarterly notes that Israel's space effort has largely been military-driven, with a number of reconnaissance and communications satellites launched from a base on the Mediterranean coast, To avoid diplomatic complications with its neighbors, some of them still hostile, Israel launches its satellites in a westerly, retrograde orbit. Israel is currently searching for a foreign launch site to lease in order to launch larger payloads in the traditional easterly direction that takes advantage of the rotation of the Earth.

Unlike its main Middle Eastern enemy, Iran, Israel has not expressed any ambitions for its own native crewed space program. A private Israeli group is a competitor for the Google Lunar X Prize for the first private rover to land on the lunar surface. In the meantime Israel is starting to slowly ramp up a civil space effort, leveraging agreements with other space agencies such as NASA and the European Space Agency.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-commemorates-columbia-disaster-death-ilan-ramon-202700253.html

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