At the initiative of Minister Matan Vilnai and Rona Ramon, astronauts will arrive in Israel to mark 3 years since the Columbia disaster
At the initiative of the Minister of Science and Technology, Matan Vilnai, and Mrs. Rona Ramon, the astronauts who went into space for missions in the shuttle "Discovery" will arrive in Israel. The astronauts will arrive at a series of events to mark 3 years since the "Columbia" disaster. This was agreed between Minister Matan Vilnai and NASA in recent days.
The astronauts will arrive in Israel on January 27 and 28, 2006, the date of the fall of the space shuttle "Columbia". The astronauts will participate in Israel in a series of commemorative events, the central of which is the Rehovot Conference, which is the main annual conference for determining science policy. At the "Rehovot Science Conference" a special session will be devoted to the issue of Israel's space policy.
The delegation will be headed by the commander of the shuttle "Discovery", Eileen Collins. Collins the first woman to command a space shuttle. Collins is one of the most respected and well-known women in the US, who will be accompanied by two additional crew members of the "Discovery".
The Minister of Science and Technology, Matan Vilnai, previously headed the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sports and accompanied throughout the entire launch operation of "Columbia" and the late Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut to go into space, said that the series of events will combine commemoration and promotion of the Israeli space issue. The cooperation with NASA is important and proves itself for the existence of common databases regarding Earth observations from satellites and ground stations. Minister Matan Vilnai added that he is certain that there will also be other joint projects in the future.
