Ilan Ramon (
June 20,
1954 -
February 1,
2003) was an
astronaut and
space shuttle payload specialist of
STS-107 (
Columbia) who was killed when the
craft disintegrated after
reentry into the
Earth's atmosphere. He was the first astronaut on a
NASA flight to request
kosher food; because of space constraints, not all the food was certified kosher. Ramon, of
Tel Aviv,
Israel and
Houston, Texas) started astronaut training with NASA in
1997 and was the first
Israeli in space.
Ramon was a
Colonel and
fighter pilot in the
Israeli Air Force, with thousands of
hours flying experience. He fought during the
1973 Yom Kippur War. In
1980, he was in the first group of Israeli pilots to fly
F-16s. In
1981, he took part in the bombing of
Iraq's unfinished
Osiraq nuclear reactor. He also flew in the
1982 Lebanon war.
Ramon's mother and grandmother survived
imprisonment in
Germany's
Auschwitz death camp during the
Holocaust of
World War II.
See also: