Watch Tonight: Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope

By Nancy Atkinson - February 1, 2013 at 12:43 AM UTC | Missions
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Airing on PBS stations in the US tonight (January 31, 2013) a new film in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia disaster. Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope tells the little-known story of Columbia astronaut Ilan Ramon from Israel, the son of Holocaust survivors who became Israel's first astronaut. Ramon carried into space a miniature Torah scroll that had survived the horrors of the Holocaust, given to a boy in a secret bar mitzvah observed in the pre-dawn hours in the notorious Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen.

"Moving tributes like this film remind us all that spaceflight always carries great risk," said NASA Administrator and four-time space shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden. "But fallen heroes like Ilan were willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice to make important science discoveries and push the envelope of human achievement."

See the trailer, below:

The film premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST (

check local listings here

) on PBS stations. It will be followed by an encore broadcast of NOVA "Space Shuttle Disaster" at 10:00 p.m. EST, which examines the causes of the tragedy.

Most PBS specials are rebroadcast and are usually available later on the internet, and so check your local listings if you missed it, and we'll also post a link if/when this film becomes available online.

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