Remembering Israel Astronaut Ilan Ramon With New Airport, NASA Delegation Arrives



By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem --- February 1, 2012 .... Part of the following was communicated by the Israel Prime Minister's Office to the Israel News Agency.

As Israel marks the ninth anniversary of the tragic Columbia space shuttle disaster which took the life of Israel's first astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon, a new airport is now under construction bearing his name.

On February 1, 2003 the space shuttle disintegrated during reentry after superheated gases penetrated a damaged spot on its left wing. The seven crew members that perished were Kalpana Chawla, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Ilan Ramon, David Brown, William McCool and Michael Anderson.

The initial damage had occurred shortly after launch, when a briefcase-sized piece of insulating foam broke off from an external fuel tank and smashed against the wing. NASA, which was given a heads up to look at the damaged wing while in orbit around the Earth, ignored the warning. Columbia disintegrated about 15 minutes before it was scheduled to touch down at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Ramon, who was born in 1954 in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel became a Colonel (Aluf Mishne) and fighter pilot in the Israel Air Force, with thousands of hours flying experience. In 1981 he was the youngest pilot to take part in Operation Opera, Israel's strike against Iraq's unfinished Osiraq nuclear reactor.

The Israel Cabinet back in July approved the construction of a new international airport at Timna. The decision followed a meeting with Eilat Mayor Yitzhak Halevy and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's instructions to a ministerial team on the development of Eilat.

The airport will replace Eilat's current airport and will promote the economic progress of the city by freeing up land for tourism, commerce and housing. Following the decision, civilian use of the airport at Ovda will be halted.

According to the plan, the Israel Airports Authority will finance the construction of the Ramon International Airport and will operate it. The cost of the project is estimated at approximately NIS 1.6 billion. Estimated construction time is approximately three years from the start of work. An estimated 1.5 million passengers are forecast to use the airport, approximately 90% on internal flights.

Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the decision to move Eilat's airport outside the city, which has not been dealt with for years, is part of a comprehensive plan to develop Eilat and jump it forward.

"This airport, which the Government recommends be named after Ilan and Assaf Ramon, will be an alternative to Ben-Gurion International Airport and the airport in Eilat. It will free up considerable land in Eilat, provide a solution for the expansion of Eilat and prevent noise and other pollution in the city. In other words, this is a very important decision. It is part of the steps we are taking to change Eilat and the Negev, including laying a railway to Eilat and widening the Aravah road. We are also checking on the possibility of moving the Eilat port. All of these things are really changing the face of reality in Eilat and the south of the country," the Prime Minister said.

NASA Astronaut William S. McArthur, Jr., is now in Israel and met with over 500 teens who came to the Israel Academy of Science and Arts high school in Jerusalem. The teens from 20 schools and members of the Ilan Ramon Space Club, learned about how Ilan Ramon slept, shaved and ate. They discussed health problems which result from the lack of gravity in space and what caused Col. Ramon the most excitement.

Every year, NASA sends a delegation to Israel to help mark the untimely loss of Ilan Ramon. The NASA family keeps in regular touch with his widow, Rona, who has since lost a son, Asaf, in the crash of an Israel Air Force F16-A.

The Israel Space Agency this week announced that it aims to expand its relative advantage to become one of the world’s five leaders in the civilian space field. The Israel Space Agency stated that this would be achieved by developing new microsatellites and multi-spectral cameras, expanding space infrastructure, maximizing international cooperation in space projects. The ISA also stated that an integral and essential part of their program would be to encourage young Israelis to get interested in space research.

Israel has produced 13 satellites of which nine are currently in orbit around the earth. Of these, there are six observational and three communications satellites. These made in Israel satellites were launched and are functioning at a 100 percent success rate, the Israel Space Agency said. ISA’s present and future work has huge economic implications for Israel, as the world space market totals over $250 billion.

 



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