Top 10 Amazing Facts about Ilan Ramon

Ilan Ramon photo by NASA-Wikimedia commons 

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Ilan Ramon

Ilan Ramon was an Israeli fighter pilot and he later became the first Israeli astronaut. He worked as the payload specialist on the spacecraft named Columbia STS-107 which he flew to the moon on January 16, 2003.

However, the mission to the moon came to be fatal when he and other six crew members were killed in the space shuttle during the re-entry to the earth.

 Ramon was the prime crew member for the Mediterranean Israeli dust experiment. After his death, he became the only foreign recipient of the United States congressional space medal of honor. 

1. Ramon was born in Ramat Gan in Israel

Ilan Ramon photo by unknown-Wikimedia Commons

Ramon was born in Ramat Gan in Israel in June of the year 1954. His parents were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. His late father was called Eliezer Wolfferman and his late mother’s name was Tonya.

He grew up in Beersheba which is a city in Israel. His parents were refugees from Europe who immigrated to Israel in 1949. He Hebraized his surname from Wolferman to Roman to make it more Israeli when he joined the Israeli Air Force.

Ramon graduated from high school in the year 1972 and he also graduated and attained a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Computer engineering from the University of Tel Aviv in Israel in 1987.

2. Ramon received Special Honors for various Outstanding Achievements

Ilan Ramon photo by NASA-Wikimedia Commons

Ramon received awards and honors for his outstanding achievements in the Yom Kippur war of 1973 for the role he played in the campaign ribbon.

He was also recognized for his role in the operation for peace for Galilee in the year 1982.  As the pilot in-flight F-16, Ilan Ramon accumulated over 3,000 flight hours in 1992.

He was awarded the United States of America congressional space medal of honor posthumously.

3. Ramon had an Illustrious Air Force Career in his Lifetime

Colonel ilan ramon photo by IDF Spokesperson’s Unit-Wikimedia Commons

Ramon was a colonel and a fighter pilot in the Israeli force. He began the fighter pilots course at the Israeli Air Force Academy in 1972 and graduated in 1974.

He participated in an A-4 Skyhawk basic training and operations as from 1974 to 1976. From 1976 to 1980 he participated in training and operations for the Mirage IIIC.

In 1981 he was the youngest pilot who took part in operation opera Israel’s strike against Iraq’s unfinished Osiraq nuclear reactor. After attending Tel Aviv University, he served as the deputy squadron commander flying the F-4 Phantom aircraft.

He attended the squadron commanders’ course between 1990 and 1992 after which he was promoted to the rank of colonel and assigned as the head of the department of operational equipment for weapon development and acquisition.

4. Ramon Participated in NASA on-ground Training

Ilan Ramon photo by unknown-Wikimedia Commons

In the year 1997, he was selected as a payload specialist by NASA. He was then designated to train as prime for a space shuttle mission with a payload that included a multispectral camera for recording desert dust.

In the year 1998, he trained at the Johnson Space Centre in Huston Texas where he was trained until the year 2003. He, later on, flew and aboard the space shuttle STS-107 logging off 15 days 22 hours, and 20 minutes in space.

5. He was a Jewish International Hero

Ramon boarded and flew the space shuttle named Columbia into space. Millions of people in Israel watched the launch and Jews everywhere in the country celebrated Ilan Ramon for taking part in books about the historical event.

Ramon was reported as a national hero and a household name when he rocketed into space by the United State of America news and the World report.  Due to these attributes, public schools in Israel taught about his exploits.

6. Ramon Died in the Space Shuttle Columbia

He was the first Israeli astronaut to fly into space but unluckily he died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster in the year 2003 while he was 48 years old.

Ramon was one of the seven astronauts flying in the space shuttle Columbia when it broke apart upon return to earth on February 1, 2003, killing everyone on board.

7. Ramon’s Space Flight Mission

Ramon participated in a 16 days space flight which was a science and research mission. He worked for 24 hours a day in two alternating shifts.

The crew in the space shuttle managed to conduct approximately 80 experiments. The mission ended when the space shuttle Columbia and the crew members on board perished 16 minutes before the scheduled landing on earth.

8. Ramon’s Diary

NASA recovered only 40% content from the Columbia space shuttle that crashed outside Palestine, Texas. Ramon’s diary containing 37 pages was found among the contents of the Columbia space shuttle crash and NASA returned it to his wife.

His wife Rona now a widow shared two copies with the people of Israel which were displayed in Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. since that was the only excerpt that could be recovered. In his dairy, Ramon wrote “today is the first day that I feel that I am truly living in space. I have become a man who lives and works in space”.

9. Ramon’s Wife was called Rona

 Ramon’s wife Rona served as a paramedic for the Israeli defense forces and she later earned a Bachelor of arts at Wingate Institute. She returned to school and earned a master’s degree in holistic health in Massachusetts at Lesley University after the death of her son Assaf Ramon.

She also started to lecture on the coping mechanisms of grief. She worked as the Chief Executive Officer at Ramon foundation for youth’s academic excellence and social leadership through science and technology. In the year December 17, 2018, Rona died battling pancreatic cancer.

10. Ilan Ramon’s Son was called Assaf

 Ramon’s son Assaf Ramon died at 21 years of age during a routine training flight while piloting his F-16A. He lost consciousness after being subjected to high-speed G-force conditions.

He was considered an excellent pilot since he graduated from the Israel Air Force as the top cadet in his class.

In conclusion, Ilan Ramon was an ambitious and dedicated person in his lifetime. Through sheer hard work, he managed to make his country Israel proud being the first Israeli astronaut to fly into space. He was a dedicated father and husband to Rona Ramon.