Son of Israeli Astronaut Killed in Plane Crash

The crew of STS-107, which included Ilan Ramon from Israel. Credit: NASA

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Sad news to report: The son of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon was killed Sunday when his F-16 warplane crashed on a routine training flight, the Israeli military said. Lt. Asaf Ramon was the son of Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first and only astronaut, who was one of the seven crew members killed when the Columbia broke apart as it re-entered the atmosphere in 2003, as the crew was returning home after the STS-107 mission.

Lt. Ramon, 21, was the eldest of Ilan Ramon’s four children, and was just 15 when his father died. According to Avi Blozovsky, editor of Hayadan, the only dedicated science news site in Hebrew, after the death of his father, the young Ramon said he hoped to be an astronaut and continue the legacy of his father.

Assaf Ramon being awarded a medal. Image courtesy Avi Blozovsky, editor of Hayadan, the only dedicated science news site in Hebrew.

The younger Ramon excelled in his pilot training and in June received a presidential honor.

Ramon’s fighter jet crashed south of the West Bank city of Hebron. An eyewitness said the plane flew over the southern West Bank at low altitude before crashing, and that there was a huge fire.

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The Israeli air force has called an official inquiry and halted training in Israel’s F-16 squadrons until further notice.

Source: AP/Yahoo News, Hayadan,

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/