Education Minister Naftali Bennett called Rona Ramon “a hero of Israel.”

By Algemeiner Staff

The late Rona Ramon, who passed away in December at the age of 54 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, will be posthumously awarded an Israel Prize this year for her education activism, it was announced on Tuesday.

Among other efforts, Ramon – who tragically lost her husband, Ilan, in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and her son, Assaf, in a 2009 Israeli Air Force training accident – established the Ramon Foundation to promote youth interest in science and technology.

Ramon’s three surviving children – Tal, Yiftah, and Noa – said in a statement on Tuesday: “Our mother was able to take a life which was painful and turn it to a life-long mission that gives other people hope.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennett called Ramon “a hero of Israel in terms of generosity and light.”

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The invitation to the families of the Columbia crew was extended by Ilan Ramon’s widow, who died last month from an illness.

By David Jablinowitz, World Israel News

President Reuven Rivlin and his wife Nechama met Sunday with the seven families of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia mission which, on February 1, 2003, disintegrated upon re-entering earth’s atmosphere, killing all the crew members, including Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

The families are visiting Israel at the invitation of Rona Ramon, Ilan’s widow, who died in December from an illness.

In extending the invitation, she said that she had wanted the families to participate in Israeli Space Week and to attend a memorial ceremony for Ilan. Following Rona’s death, the president and his wife acceded to the request of Ilan and Rona’s children to host this event at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem.

Before the gathering, Tal, Yiftach, and Noa Ramon met privately with the Rivlins in the president’s study. Another sibling, Assaf Ramon, was killed in an Israel Air Force fighter jet crash during an advanced pilot training course in 2009.

The families of the Columbia space shuttle presented the president with a picture taken at the training compound in 2002, several months before the disaster. It shows the space suits of the American astronauts hanging with U.S. flags on the sleeves, and the Israeli flag on the sleeve of Ilan Ramon’s suit.

Columbia was NASA’s first space shuttle. It carried out 28 missions and flew 160 astronauts.

Space Week was the initiative of Rona Ramon and includes conferences for researchers and educational events for over 100,000 children.

Proud of the Ramon Foundation

Evelyn Husband-Thompson, the wife of the commander of the Columbia mission Rick Husband, thanked the president, saying: “We are all so proud of you, and proud of the Ramon Foundation. It is difficult and emotional, but we also look forward to the future. On behalf of all the families, we are so happy to be here.”

“I want to welcome you all here – not as guests but as family,” said the president. “When we think of the seven crew members of the Columbia, we feel deep grief, but also boundless pride. They flew to the heavens to push the boundaries of human knowledge.

“Every Israeli knows where they were 16 years ago when they heard the terrible news. The stories of the brave astronauts on the space shuttle have become part of the story of the State of Israel,” Rivlin added.

“Only a month ago, we said good-bye to Rona Ramon. Rona honored the memory of her husband and her son through the Ramon Foundation, which gives young people from all backgrounds the opportunity to make their dreams come true. That is what I believe Israeli Space Week represents – inspiration for the next generation, for all of us, not just to explore the mysteries of space, but to build a better world here on earth,” he said.

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Rona Ramon, widow of late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, succumbed to cancer at 54.

By World Israel News Staff

Rona Ramon, wife of the late Ilan Ramon, an Israeli fighter pilot and the first Israeli astronaut for NASA, succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Monday at the age of 54.

Ilan was killed in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003.

Rona also lost a son, Assaf, in 2009. An IAF pilot as well, he was killed in a training accident.

A social activist who promoted the education and advancement of youth in Israel, Rona subsequently founded the Ramon Foundation, which “aims to ignite the three essential values which Ilan and Asaf Ramon stood for – academic excellence, social leadership and groundbreaking courage.”

In 2016, she was among the torchbearers at the annual Independence Day ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

“My wife Sara and I express deep sorrow over the passing of Rona Ramon. Rona stood bravely after the deaths of her husband Ilan and her son Asaf, our beloved pilots, may their memories be for a blessing,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “She battled cancer with the same bravery, but to our sorrow, succumbed today. We will always remember her and her splendid family. May her memory be for a blessing.”

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