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 worlds 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. ISAs present and future work has huge economic
implications for Israel, as the world space market totals over
$250 billion.
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