This is what President Yitzhak Herzog said today during the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference. The President met with senior NASA officials and the astronaut team of the AX1 mission
President Yitzhak Herzog participated today, Tuesday, T of Shebat, January 31, in the International Space Conference named after the late Ilan Ramon, which is being held as part of the Israel Space Week events for 2023, led by the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.
Yesterday, the president of the country met with Eitan Stiva and the team of astronauts of the AX1 mission to the International Space Station, the first private mission in history to the space station that took place in April 2022. Astronauts Eitan Stiva, Michael Lopez Alegria, Larry Connor and Mark Fathy talked about the Israeli scientific experiments in which they took part , about the cooperation between the staff and the personal experiences they had at the station.
The president was interested in the astronauts' mission, the training process, and their return to Earth. Eitan Stiva returned to the President the glass cube that the President gave him to the space station, on which was engraved "Prayer for the Peace of the State" in the handwriting of the President's grandfather, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog ztzel.
The President of the State said today at the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference: "The endless possibilities in space do not only concern reaching other worlds. They also touch our new abilities to preserve and protect the fragile and beautiful world we call home. In fact, when Ilan Ramon traveled on the space shuttle "Columbia", he talked about how beautiful the Earth looks from space, but also about how fragile and delicate it is. The earth, he said, must be protected. And as only hundreds of kilometers above the earth, the borders disappear and are replaced by a strong recognition that we all share the same planet, I believe that we must work together beyond borders and disputes, in order to improve life on this planet for everyone."
The president concluded by saying: "The last era of space exploration was driven by the competitiveness of the Cold War. I believe that the new era of space exploration can be ushered in by the goodwill of warm peace. Let's follow in the footsteps—or, fly in their orbits—of Ilan Ramon and his fellow astronauts, and ascend higher and higher, harnessing the power of space, for the good of the earth. Together we will take space exploration, and our abilities for cooperation between people, to new heights and thus save our planet from new and horrifying abysses."
At the beginning of the conference, NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Cabana and NASA Artemis Program Manager James Perry presented the President with a special gift from space: a patch from the "Artemis 1" mission that orbited the moon.
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