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- Rick
Douglas Husband: Der 45 Jahre alte Oberst der US-Luftwaffe war
verheiratet und hatte zwei Kinder. Der Ingenieur war insgesamt mehr als
235 Stunden im All. Husband gehörte zu der Space-Shuttle-Crew, die 1999
erstmals an die Internationale Raumstation (ISS) andockte.
- Ilan
Ramon: Der 48-jährige Astronaut war der erste Israeli im All. In der
Luftwaffe galt Ramon als einer der erfahrensten Piloten. Der Ingenieur
war Vater von vier Kindern. Der Sohn eines Auschwitz-Überlebenden nahm
die Zeichnung eines kleinen Jungen mit ins All, der im
Konzentrationslager ums Leben kam.
- Kalpana C.
Chawla: Die erfahrene NASA-Astronautin, geboren 1961 in Indien,
promovierte in Luft- und Raumfahrt an der Colorado-Universität. Chawla
hatte mehr als 375 Stunden Erfahrung im All. 1997 bediente sie den
Roboterarm eines Shuttle-Fluges.
- Laurel
Blair Salton Clark: Die US-Navy-Ärztin war zum ersten Mal an Bord einer
Raumfähre. Die 41-Jährige sollte eine Reihe von biologischen
Experimenten an Bord durchführen. Sie hatte Medizin an der Universität
in Wisconsin studiert, war verheiratet und Mutter eines Kindes.
- Michael P.
Anderson: Der 43-Jährige aus dem US-Staat Washington war schon 1998 an
Bord der Raumfähre, die an der russischen Raumfahrtstation Mir
andockte. Der verheiratete Oberstleutnant und Physiker war
verantwortlich für die Wissenschaftsmission.
- David M.
Brown: Der 46 Jahre alte Marineoffizier aus Virginia war zum ersten Mal
im All. Der Wissenschaftler arbeitete an zahlreichen biologischen
Experimenten.
- William C.
McCool: Der US-Marineflieger hat in 24 verschiedenen Flugzeugen 2800
Stunden als Pilot zugebracht. Der 41-Jährige wurde 1996 für das
Training bei der Nasa ausgewählt.
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"ILAN
RAMON - IN MEMORIAM"
HonestReporting joins the people of Israel in mourning the tragic loss
of Col. Ilan Ramon and his Columbia Shuttle crewmates.
We wish to share the following inspirational tribute, "Shattered
Dreams,"by Dina Coopersmith of http://aish.com/
HonestReporting.com
====== ILAN RAMON: SHATTERED DREAMS ======
The mind reels in disbelief as reports come in about the explosion of
the Columbia space shuttle.
We in Israel have become accustomed to announcements of terror attacks. We
have even attuned ourselves to hearing the nuances of seriousness in the
voice of the radio announcer as he or she introduces the hourly news so
that we can steel ourselves against receiving the inevitable tragic
information. Particularly on Saturday night, after spending an entire
Shabbat disconnected from the outside world, the first moment of the
post-Shabbat news is fraught with a special kind of tension.
But nothing prepared us for this.
It was just not possible.
After 16 days of almost constant news coverage about Ilan Ramon, Israels
first astronaut, we all felt we knew him. He was family. He represented us
all -- our country, our people, our past and our future. He was our hero
at a time when we sorely needed one.
The son of Holocaust survivors, he expressed all that was characteristic
of the proud Israeli Jew. As a pilot in the Israeli air force, he was a
war hero who bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, as well as fighting
in the Yom Kippur and Lebanon Wars.
Although not religious, Ilan felt compelled to keep some significant
religious observances in space to fulfill his dream of uniting the
Jewish
people and representing our nation. He took a book of Psalms and a picture
drawn by a 14-year-old Jewish boy who was killed in Auschwitz; he ate only
kosher food and made Kiddush Friday night and recited Shema Yisrael as
the shuttle flew over Jerusalem.
He said he wanted to "emphasize the unity of the people of Israel
and the Jewish communities abroad."
Among my friends, we spoke about him creating a Kiddush Hashem
--sanctification of Gods name.
How could he be gone?
How could all our hopes and dreams disintegrate into the thin layer of
atmosphere that protects the earth?
We anxiously awaited his landing, to celebrate the triumph of our new
national hero. The possibility of mishap was very far from our minds.
"Its much more dangerous to drive in a car in this country that to travel
in space," Ilans brother, Gadi, said of his attitude. "Not in
our wildest
dreams did we imagine that there would be any problem."
Ilans father said early Saturday morning, as he eagerly anticipated the
imminent arrival of his son, "The only problem might be in the
weather,
and that might only delay the landing by a day or two."
The tragedy brought home to us once again the fragility of human endeavor.
We are shocked when the frontiers of science and technology, in which we
place our
unflagging trust, reveal themselves to be so shaky and limited.
Colonel Ramon took great delight in taking a "surprise" with
him to space
-- a Torah scroll that survived the hell of the Holocaust. The scroll
symbolized for him his dream of a unified people under God, with an
indomitable spirit.
That Torah scroll exploded along with Ramon and his fellow astronauts at
an altitude of 200,000 feet over a Texas town called Palestine
The Midrash tells us that "the Jewish nation will not be redeemed
until
they are one unit." Ilan Ramon was a devoted husband, father, pilot,
and
scientist.
But his greatest legacy is that he brought healing to a wounded
nation.
Our hearts and prayers are with Ilan Ramons parents and his wife, Rona,
and their four children. Our nation mourns with you. Unfortunately, it
is
in grief that we have fulfilled Ilans dream of unity.
Ilan commented this past Thursday on what the world looked like to him
in
space. "The world looks marvelous from up here, so peaceful, so
wonderful
and so fragile."
Now we can turn that comment eerily around and say to Ilan, "You
looked
so marvelous from down here, so peaceful, so wonderful... and so
fragile." |
