NASA informed the Ramon family early this morning that remains of astronaut Col. Ilan Ramon had been found and identified with certainty. IDF Rabbi Lt.-Col. Tzvi Black, in Houston for the purpose of taking part in the identification process, confirmed the findings. Ilan Ramon will be buried in Israel next week in a military ceremony, after which his family will observe the traditional seven-day mourning period. The Israel Air Force flag that Ramon took along with him to space was also found in its entirety. U.S. President George Bush, who took part in the memorial ceremony for the seven astronauts yesterday, approached the Ramon family afterwards and told them [paraphrased], "Ilan blew up the Iraqi nuclear reactor [in 1981], and I will finish the job."
At yesterday's memorial ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Rabbi Harold Robinson, of B'nai Zion Congregation in Shreveport, Louisiana - a founding member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1873 - read aloud from Psalm 23 in the original Hebrew. "This cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose," President Bush told the 10,000 mourners yesterday. "It is a desire written in the human heart. We are that part of creation which seeks to understand all creation. We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness, and pray they will return."
At yesterday's memorial ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Rabbi Harold Robinson, of B'nai Zion Congregation in Shreveport, Louisiana - a founding member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1873 - read aloud from Psalm 23 in the original Hebrew. "This cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose," President Bush told the 10,000 mourners yesterday. "It is a desire written in the human heart. We are that part of creation which seeks to understand all creation. We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness, and pray they will return."