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Colonel
Ilan Ramon, Israeli Pioneer in Space
By Lieutenant-Colonel Shlomo Nir
Feb. 2003
With the disaster of the space shuttle Columbia, it is as if
a wing of the American eagle had broken and fell. Part of that
broken wing is Israeli.
"I lost my daddy," cried Noa, Ilan's six year-old
daughter, as the shuttle took off so perfectly- did she know
something others didn't?
How symbolic is this disaster, where both the Israeli and his
American comrades find a common fate- while Americans prepare
for a war against Iraq, meant to destroy the threat to humanity
in general, and to Israel in particular?
It seems that just as we stand now hand in hand in joined hearts
with the American people, so we will stand together in the coming
weeks and months in the forthcoming attack on the Iraqi regime
in Baghdad.
Ilan Ramon, forty-eight years old at the time of his death,
was son to holocaust survivors. He was excelled throughout his
life, an excellent student in school, especially in physics
and mathematics. In 1972, like every Israeli young man, he joined
the Israeli Defense Force. After two years he graduated the
flying course as a distinguished student and continued serving
as a fighter pilot with the same level of excellence. In 1981,
he was the youngest pilot to participate in the attack on the
Iraqi nuclear reactor.
Ilan loved to fly and he loved his family. In his last e-mail
from space to his wife and four children, he wrote: "Although
everything here is amazing, I cannot wait until I see you again.
A big hug to you, and kisses to the children." To his brother
he wrote: "I wish I could continue flying for the rest
of my life." In an interview from space he said: "I
hope we will land on time, because I miss my beloved and my
children who are waiting for me down there."
In an e-mail sent one day prior to the expected landing, Ilan
wrote to the I.A.F. commander: "It is a great privilege
to be a member of the Air Force family. I feel I am opening
up a new horizon and pave a new way. Air and space are in one
continuity, and we are already here, in space."
"These words are Ilan's way of asking the I.A.F to pursue
this path of vision and innovation…" said the Israeli
Air Force Commander, "and whoever does not follow this
road will regress. Therefore, it is our duty to pursue Ilan's
path, develop the field of space and bring it to fulfillment."
In spite of this great loss, the sorrow and pain we all feel
in Israel, Ilan's road is already paved. He will be remembered
as a fighter, a hero, a professional, a pioneer, and above all
as a modest person, a good friend with admirable qualities and
values. He will be a source of inspiration to the next generation.
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