The space shuttle carrying the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, exploded on its way back to Earth • Since his death, his son Assaf and his wife Rona have also passed away

• Ilan Ramon with his son Asaf, who was killed in a plane crash (Photo courtesy of the Ramon Foundation)

Today, February 1, 2020, in the United States and Israel, commemorate 17 years of the disintegration of the Columbia Space Shuttle over Texas while returning to Earth from STS-107 mission. The disaster day was also on Saturday. Of the shuttle, including a cargo expert and the first Israeli astronaut in the late Ilan Ramon space.

Ramon's eldest son, Assaf, enlisted in the Air Force and, like his father, graduated with honors in the combat course. During the flight course, in March 2009 he was hit by a Skyhawk plane which he piloted and was praised for his rescue from the crash, but on September 13, 2009, several weeks after the course ended, he was killed during flight training in flying the F16. Assaf Ramon was buried next to his father in the Nahalal cemetery.

Photo: Reuters // Narration: Ran Meidan

Ramon, who was an IDF fighter pilot, was selected in 1997 to be the first Israeli space pilot by the Air Force, due to the fact that he excelled at every stage of his military career, and was also a partner in the development of the Israeli aircraft "Lavi". Ramon, his late wife Rune, and their family moved to the astronaut training facility in the United States. The training was supposed to take about a year, but NASA postponed the shuttle launch several times.

As mentioned, on Saturday, February 1, 2003, after Columbia's stay in space for nearly 16 days, about 16 minutes before the shuttle's scheduled landing date, it disintegrated over the state of Texas, shortly after entering the atmosphere. The special news releases intended to survey the festive landing became editions to cover the disaster, when it was clear from the start that no one from the ferry crew was taking advantage.

For a long time, thousands of pieces of the shuttle were scattered throughout Texas and Louisiana, ranging from screws to sections of several feet. Searching teams that included thousands of people - volunteers, federal agencies, local authorities and even prisoners - scoured a strip of cisterns and forests 3.2 miles wide around the main debris area.

In total, more than 84,000 pieces of the shuttle were found, representing 38% of the shuttle's original dry weight. The searches focused on the shuttle data collection box, although the chance of data being retained after a 60-mile fall was slim. The Inquiry Commission mapped all the places where remains and their weight were found. A computer then went over the data and calculated which area the weight of the data box should have dropped. A search team sent to the area found the box that, contrary to the expected, was not significantly damaged.

The remains of the 60-mile-long astronauts were collected and brought to burial. Ten years later, in a decade-long ABC investigation into the shuttle disaster in 2013, it was revealed that even before the crash, NASA officials knew about the aircraft malfunction, and they chose not to inform the shuttle crew about it.

Shortly after the crash, Israeli citizens became acquainted with Ramon's family, especially his wife Rona, who first emerged as a fluent speaker and later as a public activist supporting the education and promotion of youth in Israel. Ramon also won the Israel Life Award.

Ramon's commemoration was very broad, with, among other things, his name being called an airport, a community settlement and high schools. Ramon's image has been engraved in the Israeli public, thanks in part to a journal he wrote while in space. The diary was discovered in Texas, a few weeks after the disaster, when it was scorched but still legible. Eight pages of it survived the blast.

In the pages found, Ramon documented his experiences from launch to the sixth day of his voyage in space. One of the pages, which was restored with the help of the Israel Police's Forensic Identification Department, was a page, on which Ramon wrote the kiddush words for Saturday night. Ramon was also important to emphasize his Israeliity in space, when he took with him on various objects representing Israeli society.