A private memorial ceremony will be held in Houston, Texas today for the seven astronauts who perished aboard the Columbia space shuttle. Some 12,000 pieces of the craft have been found thus far. Volunteers of the Zaka emergency medical organization - which responds to terrorist attacks, car accidents and the like, ensuring burial for all human remains in accordance with Jewish law - have arrived in Houston to help in the search-and-identify mission. Zaka's Yisrael Stefansky, who arrived in Houston last night to represent Israel's Foreign Ministry, said today, "We unfortunately have much experience in this area from the many terrorist attacks Israel has undergone, and we will help in the searches for body parts; we may be able to find and recognize things that the others cannot."
"Tomorrow we'll be going around to the different sites where they found human remains," Stefansky told Arutz-7's Tamar Yonah today. "I hope we can succeed within a few days. It will be a great honor for Ilan, his family and the State of Israel to bring him to proper Jewish burial." He said that the Foreign Ministry had invited the Zaka volunteers.
NASA has admitted that it is increasingly likely that the accident was a result of the knocking-off of a heat-resistant tile when the rocket was first launched. There are also reports that the danger was known several days before the Columbia was to land, but that it was feared that the problem could not be solved.
"Tomorrow we'll be going around to the different sites where they found human remains," Stefansky told Arutz-7's Tamar Yonah today. "I hope we can succeed within a few days. It will be a great honor for Ilan, his family and the State of Israel to bring him to proper Jewish burial." He said that the Foreign Ministry had invited the Zaka volunteers.
NASA has admitted that it is increasingly likely that the accident was a result of the knocking-off of a heat-resistant tile when the rocket was first launched. There are also reports that the danger was known several days before the Columbia was to land, but that it was feared that the problem could not be solved.