Photo: Jerusalem – Picture taken off the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, from a small Muslim restaurant.
In late 2013, I was requested by Frank DiBello, the President of Space Florida to write a speech for him that he intended to make to an Israeli delegation who were visiting Orlando, Florida. It was an unusual request. Frank himself is a well-respected speechwriter and raconteur. I speculated that with my knowledge of the space program, that I could provide Frank a draft of creative words for the visiting group. I decided however to take my inspiration from an Israeli Astronaut I had never met, but to whom I felt strongly drawn to – Colonel Ilan Ramon. Within weeks of writing that speech, I was taking my first flight to Israel.
While working in Israel, I was scheduled to attend a host of meetings with innovative companies desiring to partner in commercial research projects with their opposite numbers in Florida. On that very first mission to Israel however, I was most fortunate to have one work-free day in which I hoped to savor a land I had heard of from childhood. I never dreamed that I would experience Israel.
Israel, February 1st 2014. It was precisely eleven years to the day following the Columbia disaster. I walked the beach in Tel Aviv, then wet my feet in the warm waters of the eastern Mediterranean. The exact Israel time was 4pm in Israel, 2pm in Cashel, Ireland and 9am at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility. For the first time I felt that I had emotionally made a full circle, while paying a special, personal tribute to Astronaut Ilan Ramon.
The day prior January 31st, was my first encounter with Ms. Rona Ramon, the widow of Ilan. She addressed the attendees at the opening ceremonies of the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference. Afterwards, we spoke briefly but for some unknown reason, we pledged to stay in contact. It felt proper somehow that we should be friends. We did later meet up in Cocoa Beach Florida and on two further occasions in Israel. Sadly, as the years passed by, Rona’s health rapidly deteriorated. We had one final lunch together at her favorite restaurant, the Cassis Restaurant, close to the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation, Jaffa. I’m so glad that I have a treasured picture to remember Rona by.
Here is an extract from the speech I prepared for Mr. Frank DiBello that he gave to the Israeli Delegation Visit in Florida, 2013:
“Prior to his mission, Ilan had sought advice from a rabbi as to how he should observe the Jewish Sabbath in space. He also took some mementos into space – a pencil sketch by a 16 year old boy named Petr Ginz who died in Auschwitz, entitled ‘Moon Landscape’. Other items included a copy of the Torah given to him by the President of Israel, Moshe Katsav as well as a Torah scroll from the holocaust that was presented to him by a Bergen Belsen survivor.
Miraculously, thirty-seven pages from Ramon’s personal diary survived the re-entry and the destruction of Columbia during its fall back to Earth. His diary survived extreme heat in the explosion, extreme atmospheric cold and was attacked by microorganisms and insects. But it survived! There is no rational explanation as to how Ramon’s diary was recovered when most of the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed… On February 1st, 2003, Ilan Ramon wrote the following in his diary, on the last day of his mortal life”.
“Today was the first day that I felt that I am truly living in space. I have become a man who lives and works in space”…
Rest in peace together – Ilan and Rona Ramon.
