The students of the Ilan Ramon Space Club of the "Association for Excellence in Education" yesterday met the three astronauts from the "Discovery" shuttle, headed by Commander Eileen Collins
The three arrived in Israel to mark the third anniversary of the Columbia crash. Dr. Eileen Collins, the shuttle commander and the two astronauts, Dr. Andrew Thomas and Dr. Steve Robinson, dressed in NASA uniforms, met with the students of the "Excellence 2000" project and the students of the high school of sciences and arts at UM.
On Sunday, a unique meeting of members of the "Ilan Ramon Space Club" with the three astronauts who arrived in Israel as part of the commemoration of the third anniversary of the Columbia crash was held at the High School of Arts and Sciences in Jerusalem. The event was attended by students from various schools in Israel as part of the "Excellence 2000" program operated by the Association for Excellence in Education. The students of the program from Ort School Dafna from Kirit Bialik read a piece of poetry at the event in memory of the late Ilan Ramon and the Columbia team.
At the head of the delegation that arrived in Israel is the commander of the shuttle "Discovery", Dr. Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a space shuttle and one of the most respected and well-known women in the USA. Along with her came two of her team members, the mission experts: Dr. Andrew Thomas and Dr. Steve Robinson.
For the hundreds of students studying at the "Space Club" of the Association for Excellence in Education, it was a dream come true to meet the "Discovery" team face to face. The members of the delegation presented to the students the goals of their mission in space as well as a short video that illustrated their work on and off the shuttle. Dr. Collins told the students about the incident in which the flight inspectors noticed a possible damage to the shuttle's body and how the shuttle crew prepared to repair the defect, which included a spacewalk of two crew members and the preparation to continue the activity in the current missions.
To the students who showed interest in the conditions for admission to NASA, Dr. Robinson replied that they must continue to show curiosity for science and a thirst for knowledge and studies, and beyond that he said that "the candidate must show high abilities, stand out in the field of science and engineering and be an expert who can contribute to the task in his field."
Hizki Arieli, CEO of the Association for Excellence in Education, and Rona Ramon presented the three astronauts with the symbol of the Ilan Ramon Space Club. Hizki, greeted the members of the delegation and pointed out to them that in the High School of Arts and Sciences and the students of the 2000 Excellence Project are a representation of Israeli society. "Your arrival at the school and the presentation of your fascinating mission in space is used by all of us as proof of excellence," said Hizki.
The three astronauts participated in the last mission of the shuttle "Discovery", flight STS-114, the first mission after the disaster of the shuttle Columbia. The three came to the meeting at Rona Ramon's initiative to promote space and science, as part of the legacy of Major General Ilan Ramon, the late first Israeli astronaut.
The event was attended by Dr. Zvi Kaplan, Director General of the Israel Space Agency, Ms. Rona Ramon and Dr. Mishka Ben-David, Director of the High School for Sciences and Arts in Jerusalem.
