Memorial ceremonies in the USA and Israel. Thousands visited Ramon's grave in Nahalel cemetery
"A year has passed and it's like it was just yesterday. In stormy weather, many arrived yesterday at the grave of the first Israeli astronaut. This is what the TV channels report.
The first channel brought a quote from Chief of Staff Moshe Bogi Ya'alon: "Ilan was the first on the way." He paved the way to space for many who will come after him. Despite the loss, we will not be deterred and will continue to engage in space."
The American space agency NASA also sent one of its people to the ceremony, astronaut Tim Wirts: "I felt that he had an outstanding ability. I always got the impression that whatever he wanted to do and whatever he was asked to do, he would do flawlessly."
At the memorial service at Nehalel Cemetery, his wife Rona Ramon said that this was the hardest year of her life.
"People all around started to bloom and I look at the sky and say in my heart "God - give him back to me" and again I ask what happened, what is happening - and the answer - we don't know. " Now a year later we know how hard the pain and longing is. Know the meaning of the phrase 'if longing breaks your heart'. Living a year without our loved one is an almost impossible task, but still day after day life goes on, we must continue. The four wonderful ones he left behind fill my heart with ease, pride and love. Those very moments are the ones that break my heart anew that he is not here to enjoy and experience these moments of pleasure. His Noa is gliding down the ski slope, David will start a brilliant move in photoball, Tal a young man at his Bar Mitzvah and Asafi in the same blue suit flies a plane as if he was born for it. Those moments of happiness are the hardest moments of sorrow. Ilan will always be with us exactly as he wrote, far but close. Love you."
Memorial ceremonies on the anniversary of the Columbia crash in the USA
A memorial service for Ilan Ramon was held in Nahalel. The final stage of the space quiz took place in Herzliya. Ceremonies were also held across the US. The astronauts' families were invited to the "Super Bowl" game
In Israel and across the US, a series of commemorative events began today to mark the anniversary of the crash of the space shuttle "Columbia" on seven crew members, including the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon.
This morning, a memorial service for Ilan Ramon was held in Moshav Nahalel at the Moshav cemetery. In the afternoon, special conferences were held at the Space Association of Haifa and Rishon Lezion, as well as the final stage of the space quiz initiated by the Ministry of Education, at the Air Force Base in Herzliya.
The main ceremony in the USA took place today at the Cape Kennedy space base in Florida, where NASA employees gathered, including those employees who waited exactly one year ago for the landing of Columbia, until it became clear to them that the shuttle would not return to Earth. "For me, this moment brings back a lot of painful memories from a year ago," said Mike Leinbach, head of the wreckage search team, who participated in the memorial service.
Local memorial services were also held in the small towns in central and western Texas where the wreckage of the Columbia was scattered after the crash. Residents of Palestine and nearby cities, who saw the huge fireball and shower of debris on the morning of February XNUMX last year, gathered for rallies and prayers in memory of the seven astronauts who died above their country.
The state of Texas also decided to honor the memory of the astronauts by inviting their families to the "Super Bowl" game, which is being held tonight in Houston, where the headquarters of the space agency NASA is also located. At the opening of the "Super Bowl", the most important football game in American sports, the memory of the members of the Columbia team will also be noted.
The day after tomorrow there will be a state memorial service for the astronauts at the large military cemetery in Arlington, near Washington. On Tuesday, a memorial service for Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon will be held at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
The American space agency declared the last Thursday in January as an annual day of remembrance for those who perished in all of its space disasters. Scientists at NASA: The safety culture in the organization has been severely eroded
The American space agency, NASA, designated the last Thursday of January as an annual day of remembrance for all those who perished in its space disasters. This was announced by the director of the agency, Sean O'Keefe. At a ceremony in memory of the victims of the space shuttle "Columbia" disaster, held on Thursday at the NASA headquarters in Florida. Today will be the anniversary of the crash of the shuttle, which caught fire and exploded upon re-entry into the atmosphere. All seven shuttle passengers, including the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, were killed in the disaster.
At the ceremony, O'Keefe said that space travel is a dangerous matter, but deaths as a result of "complacency, indifference and lack of attention to detail" should not be tolerated. O'Keefe read the names of the 17 dead from the three NASA disasters - Apollo 1 on January 27, 1967, Challenger on January 28, 1986 and Columbia - and said that "they are not with us today because at the most crucial moment, we failed" . O'Keefe also announced that three new peaks on Mars, photographed by the "Spirit" lander, will be named after the three Apollo 1 casualties. The landing sites of the space vehicles "Opportunity" and "Spirit" have already been named after the Challenger casualties and Colombia.
However, despite the words of the NASA administrator, there are those who question the agency's commitment to safety. A former senior scientist at NASA said yesterday that the safety culture in the organization has been severely eroded due to poor management and complacency, and that even today safety is not taken seriously there. In an interview with the Voice of Israel, the scientist, Don Nelson, said that to this day NASA refuses to discuss his proposal to install escape chambers in space shuttles, a facility that he said could have saved the passengers of the Columbia shuttle. According to Nelson, all the agency director and his people want is to resume manned flights into space as quickly as possible.
Dr. John Clark, a neurologist working for NASA who lost his wife in the Columbia disaster, also says that the agency is still not doing enough regarding safety in space flights. According to him, there are many people in the agency who talk about changes, but only when it comes to others and not to themselves. "These people need to go," Clark said.
Many Israelis did not wait for the official ceremony
Eli Ashkenazi, "Haaretz" reporter reports that hundreds of family members, friends, military personnel, representatives of NASA and the US Embassy arrived yesterday at the grave of Lt. Col. Ilan Ramon in the Nahalel cemetery, to mark the anniversary of his death in the Columbia ferry crash. . The pilots of Ramat David, Ramon's base, who flew their planes over the cemetery in recent days, got used to the sight of the crowds visiting their friend's grave. The winter sun that washed over the Jezreel Valley and the anniversary of the death of an "Israeli icon", drew many to the cemetery in recent days. In the valley they said yesterday that the grave of another "Israeli sergeant" who has been buried there since 1981, Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, was also visited by many. Eitan Brushi, the head of the Emek-Jezreel regional council said that now, after Ramon is buried there, the council will improve the infrastructure that will help accommodate the crowds.
"Many told me this year that 'Ilan is not only yours, Ilan is also ours,'" Gadi Ramon, Ilan's brother, said yesterday, "It was upsetting. Ilan became public property. It's an event that people from wall to wall identified with. Today I am no longer angry, I understand." Brother Ramon also shared personal experiences from childhood, teenage years, military service and the dilemmas of two close brothers. Regarding the mission of launching into space, he said to his dead brother: "You believed in the conquest of space and kept away thoughts of human settlement in space."
A large picture of Ramon in an astronaut uniform rested on the podium. Lieutenant-Colonel Z, the commander of the squadron in which Ramon flew told how about a week ago the widow, Rona Ramon, visited there. "I gave Rona the helmet. Gray flight helmet, scarred from long flights. When you hold it, you can be smelled, heard." Rona Ramon told about the last moments, and how she and her children stood on the runway and counted backwards: "And nothing happens, the connection is cut off. People are crying, I look at the sky and say: God, give him back to me. I ask what happened? And people say 'don't know'. The whole world knew and we didn't. Now, a year later, we know."
Natan Gutman adds: across the US, the commemorative events to mark the first anniversary of the crash of the "Columbia" began yesterday, killing seven of its crew. The main ceremony took place at the space base in Cape Kennedy, Florida.
A state memorial service will be held today at the military cemetery in Arlington, near Washington. On Tuesday, a memorial service for Ilan Ramon will be held at the Israeli embassy in Washington.
NASA: The loss of Columbia was not for nothing
Hundreds participated in the memorial ceremony organized by the US space agency at the space center in Florida to mark the anniversary of the Columbia shuttle crash, with Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon on board. The director of the center: "We will come back again. Bigger, better and stronger than we used to be"
(YNET)
NASA employees who took part in the launch of the shuttle Columbia into space more than a year ago, volunteers who searched the fields of Texas for the remains of the shuttle that crashed a year ago and supporters of the American space program, gathered today (Sunday) in Cape Canaveral, Florida and marked the first anniversary of the shuttle crash.
"One year ago, at this exact time, the unbelievable happened," said this evening (Sunday), the director of the Kennedy Space Center, Jim Kennedy, to the hundreds of participants who came to the ceremony. Kennedy silently read the names of the astronauts who perished in the disaster and laws on a black granite monument placed in the center of space.
The ceremony began at exactly nine in the morning, Florida time, at the time when contact with Colombia was lost, about a year ago. It ended after only sixteen minutes, at the expected landing time of the crashed ferry.
"They were our friends. They were our heroes. Their loss was not in vain. We will return again, bigger, better and stronger than we were before. I can assure you that the Columbia team and their families will never be forgotten," Kennedy said.
Each of the mourners - the shuttle workers, students who ran the experiment that crashed together with Columbia and tourists who came to the popular space center - held a rose. After the short ceremony, each of the participants placed the rose they received on the black monument. Many of them shed a tear.
Winston Scott, a former astronaut who flew aboard Columbia, recalled his shuttle flights. “It was a good ferry. But, even good ferries can be destroyed. It depends on the winds, the weather and mostly on the hands of fate. This is exactly what happened here, according to Shana", he said painfully.
The Space Association was established following the disaster
Avi Blizovsky
The transcript of the interview conducted by Yigal Ravid on Channel One with Tal Inbar, vice president of the Israel Space Association. The interview was conducted live at the Remembrance Evening held by the Space Association at the Air Force Base in Herzliya.
Hello to Tal Inbar, Vice President of the Israel Space AssociationYou founded this association after the Columbia disaster, why exactly?
Tal Inbar: We thought it was time to raise public awareness of the field of space sciences and concentrate mainly on education for children and teenagers in order to promote Israel's status in the world in the field of space sciences, and the Columbia event served as leverage to achieve the goal?
How does the disaster promote space exploration?Of course the disaster itself is very painful and it hits hard both for NASA and for the entire global space community, but perhaps the lesson that should be learned from such a disaster is to continue to promote the issue, to build safer and better launchers, and not to stop the progress and the technological developments that in the end you and I and all of us They come out hired.
Let's talk about the space enthusiasts in IsraelAs of this evening, the association has about 350 members, and we are growing every day. The youngest are in second grade and the oldest are over 80 years old. From all walks of life, a wide audience, academics, Air Force personnel, university lecturers.
How many children want to be Ilan Ramon when they grow up?I meet with thousands of teenagers a year in various settings that I teach, and I see the enthusiasm of children and teenagers for the subject of space in general, and after Ilan Ramon's flight, despite the very sad ending, people definitely express their desire to take an active part in space exploration.
NASA: We will emerge stronger from the space shuttle disaster
Director of the Space Center on the Columbia crash: their deaths will not be in vain. Memorial services were held across the US
One year after the Columbia space shuttle disaster, NASA employees gathered in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for a memorial ceremony for the shuttle crew, which included the first Israeli astronaut - Ilan Ramon. The ceremony was held exactly at the same time when the ferry crashed a year earlier and was held for only six minutes.
Ceremonies in memory of the Columbia victims were held in other places in the US, including towns in the southern US where the parts of the ferry fell. During the ceremony in Cape Canaveral, the Director of the Space Center, Jim Kennedy, said: ''The death of our members of the Columbia crew was not in vain. We will return to operating bigger, better and stronger than before.
The team of astronauts and their beloved families will never be forgotten.''
The ceremony was also attended by school students, astronomy enthusiasts and even football fans, found time to remember, in the midst of preparations for the traditional Super Bowl ceremony that will be held tonight in Houston, Texas, where the final game of the American Football League will be played.
The last salute ceremony in the series of ceremonies will also be held there and it is expected to be the most impressive and largest of them all. Before the flight into space, the astronauts lived in the city of Houston where they prepared for the mission. The families of the astronauts were invited to the ceremony and so were the heads of NASA.
Astronaut Ilan Ramon's widow, Rona, and their children, his father, Eliezer Wolferman, friends and family members gathered yesterday for a memorial service near Ramon's grave in Nehalel Cemetery. The Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya'alon and 250 senior Air Force officers also participated in the ceremony.
On February XNUMX exactly one year ago, a piece of insulating foam from the space shuttle's fuel tank tore a hole in the shuttle's left wing, causing it to crash. The shuttle exploded and tens of thousands of pieces of it were scattered in many towns in Texas and Louisiana.
Commemoration ceremony for the Columbia disaster on Sunday also in Haifa
1.2.2004
The route association - Students for Aviation and Space organizes a memorial evening for the first Israeli astronaut - Ilan Ramon. The evening will take place on Sunday 1.2.03 in the auditorium of the Faculty of Aeronautics and Space Engineering, Technion. Entry to the event is free.
Tonight's program:
18:30 - Memorial ceremony and candle lighting
18:45 - Lecture: Danny Shalom - "The Israeli Space Program" The lecture is based on a book on this topic that is being published these days by Danny Shalom and is the first lecture since the publication of the book.
19:45 – break
20:00 - Lecture: Dr. Colin Price - "Madex - the Israeli shuttle experiment". The lecturer is from Tel Aviv University and is part of the experimental team.
A medal from Tel Aviv University in memory of Ilan Ramon
19.5.2003
Photo: Israel Hadari for Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University yesterday handed out honorary degrees for the year 2003, including the Wise Medal, named after the university's founder, in special recognition for an extraordinary contribution to Col. Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the Columbia disaster.
The medal was given to his wife Rona Ramon and his father Eliezer Wolfman. In the photo (right): University President Itamar Rabinowitz, Rona Ramon and Eliezer Wolfman.
