The main event of the week of remembrance on the three-year anniversary of the Columbia disaster was the space conference held jointly by the Ministry of Science, the Israel Space Agency, the Fisher Institute for Air-Space Research and the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Defense.
The main event of the commemorative week on the three-year anniversary of the Columbia disaster was the space conference held jointly by the Ministry of Science, the Israel Space Agency, the Fisher Institute for Air-Space Research and the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Defense. The event took place on Tuesday, 31/1/2006. On this page we bring the opening remarks of the event:
Assaf Agmon, CEO of the Fisher Institute opened the event by thanking NASA and the USA for making it possible to explore space for the benefit of the entire human race.
"Tomorrow we will mark 3 years since the Columbia disaster. A year ago we already felt that we had to do something so that the sacrifice would not be in vain. We decided in collaboration with Rona Ramon and the government bodies. Our goal is to create a public discourse, resolve debates and exchange opinions. We are witnessing significant cuts in the field of R&D. We should learn from the USA where R&D budgets were cut in two areas - security and space. Space represents and expresses the responsibility of each of its member states for the future of the human race. It is an essential field for the State of Israel in utilizing its human capital.
We must invest in space not to lead but not to fall behind. We created Israel's first Horizon satellite in a way and the knowledge for building Israel's space force is all blue and white. 43 countries own satellites, but only nine countries have self-launching capabilities, including Israel. The public discourse must be spread from end to end wherever the importance of space for the State of Israel needs to be explained.
The words of Minister Roni Bar On:
Clark, McCall Brown and Ramon families. Three years ago we lost the space shuttle Columbia. and her team including our own Ilan Ramon. Ilan Ramon became a model for Israelis, a man who followed his imagination. Ilan Ramon was a hero. Many young people became interested in space following Ilan Ramon. I share the grief of the families that the astronauts are gone. This workshop focuses on Israel's space policy. We are pleased to host the Commander of the Discovery, Eileen Collins, here. Collins was the one who restored Americans' confidence in the space program, raised the imagination and gave hope that man would conquer space."
"The Venus project of the Israel Space Agency and the Ministry of Science symbolizes this well. This is a new and innovative satellite created jointly by Israel and France and will be launched in 2008. It will be used for scientific applications - agriculture and in particular for monitoring the desert. "
Starting this year - the Ministry of Science will give 4 scholarships to doctoral students in the name of Ilan Ramon worth 192 thousand shekels each, which will enable scientists to devote themselves to science. The grant will be given to doctoral students who will carry out the most important research in a variety of fields including aeronautics, electrooptics, astrophysics, image processing.
Rona Ramon: "This is the third year that NASA astronauts come here. We are assured that it will become a tradition. We have a promise from the next team that astronauts from it will visit Israel next year. In his life, Ilan inspired the younger generation, and encouraged them to achieve achievements in aviation, technology and science. We want to focus on science and I am glad that an association of several foundations has been established to award scholarships. In addition, in the coming years a project will be built at Mitzpe Ramon Yavneh, with the help of which we will be able to preserve his Ilan spirit, his character and his special personality for the younger generation. I would like to thank David Leffler (Director General of the Ministry of Science), the Fisher Institute, the Ministry of Industry who joined the collaboration. All of these allowed us to organize this day that will become a tradition."
Brigadier General Israel Shapir, a friend of Ilan Ramon, tells about him: "In events like this, many times after you hear about a person being mentioned, you get an image of some kind of hero and the last thing Ilan would want us to think of is as a hero. Although in the end he was a hero. When we think of pilots, all kinds of images come to mind. Ilan was different."
"Each of us (pilots) likes to occupy a place in the space where he is. First we have something to say and after that we hear what the topic was and we fight with each other for the perception of the place - from the swing in the kindergarten to the discussion at the army headquarters. Ilan did not need this thing. He was a better pilot than the general they showed him once and he does it better than the instructor. He would listen, think and analyze, think about what to bring into the discussion. He spoke quietly and in a measured tone. He would choose to say it at the right time. It was surprising. We were 12 pilots in the formation team of the F16 formation. Where do you have a pilot, if he has nothing to say he doesn't say it?"
"He was a person who was pleasant to be with outside of working hours. The criteria for choosing him as an astronaut was to choose someone who was pleasant to be with even after the first week. Like a good pilot, despite what he goes through outside, when he comes to a mission, he gives the same every day. He appeared every morning at half past seven with the same smile, the same mood, the same performance. You also don't see on his face how you feel because he doesn't want to impose on you the troubles he comes from home or his frustrations or his concerns."
We became close on January 20, 1981. That morning I started my duties as a second assistant at 110. At nine o'clock there was a collision and Udi Ben Amitai was killed - he collided with the Phantom. I became Smet A. We had to bring a sixth person in the squadron. I brought Ilan from 117. On January 20th, he collided with Smet B and they both landed safely. On January 28th, they arrived. Ilan was the navigation officer - number 8 and I was the leader. We were the only ones who had no experience from the Yom Kippur War, and we practiced the mission of shelling the reactor in Iraq that took place that summer. Ilan executed the attack perfectly, breaking to 9 G. We stuck to the ground, fired a missile at him but flew so low that the missile exploded behind him.
He didn't like being a sophomore. That's why he left and went to study. I followed him. We exchanged books. I took all his algebra books. He didn't know how not to do lessons. He knew how to prioritize. You put everything aside and concentrate on the task and you have to know how to give up other things. The next meeting between us was when he returned to the Air Force as deputy commander of the Phantom squadron.
"Ilan was quite naughty. He really liked to laugh, like most of the yikes he didn't know how to tell jokes at all. There was an incident in squadron 105. A new commander came in and prepared a drill as if enemy planes were attacking. I was sure it was real. It was a Friday, half the people were in civilian clothes. And suddenly a siren sounded and the code word sounded and all the pilots ran to the locker room. Ilan came from home in shorts, a shirt and sandals and they did not bring overalls. They took, arrived first at the track and then told them it was a drill. Nevertheless they took off. After landing, he got out of the metsu wearing shorts and sandals and said: 'I've reached the take-off position, so I won't take off?'
When we sent him to be our representative in the space program, we knew that he would do the right thing, including understanding the meaning of being an Israeli Jew and who he represents and that he knew how to integrate all the content worlds. We could not have chosen a more authentic and good representative." A benign conclusion.
After these personal things, there was a lecture by the three astronauts from the spaceship Discovery, excerpts from which (more precisely, from an identical lecture that took place two days later at the industrial-commercial club) will be published later this week.
