Son of Israeli Astronaut Killed in Plane Crash

By Nancy Atkinson - September 13, 2009 at 9:46 AM UTC | Space Policy
STS-107.jpg

[/caption] 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.

[caption id="attachment_40087" align="aligncenter" width="385" caption="Assaf Ramon being awarded a medal. Image courtesy Avi Blozovsky, editor of Hayadan, the only dedicated science news site in Hebrew. "]

[/caption] 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.

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 Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com