Ramon
Ramon
Credit - www.spacefacts.de
Ilan Ramon Israeli Pilot Astronaut. Born 20 June 1954. Died 1 February 2003. First Israeli astronaut. Perished in Columbia shuttle disintegration during re-entry.

Personal: Male, Married, Four children. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Perished in Columbia shuttle disintegration during re-entry. BS

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Payload Specialist. Deceased Entered space service: May 1997. Left space service: 1 February 2003. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 15.94 days.


NASA Official Biography
NAME: Ilan Ramon (Colonel, Israel Air Force)
Payload Specialist

PERSONAL DATA:
Born June 20,1954 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Married to Rona. They have four children. He enjoys snow skiing, squash. His parents reside in Beer Sheva, Israel.

EDUCATION:
Graduated from High School in 1972; bachelor of science degree in electronics and computer engineering from the University of Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1987.

SPECIAL HONORS/AWARDS:
Yom Kippur War (1973); Peace of Galilee War (1982); F-16 1,000 Flight Hours (1992).

EXPERIENCE:
In 1974, Ramon graduated as a fighter pilot from the Israel Air Force (IAF) Flight School. From 1974-1976 he participated in A-4 Basic Training and Operations. 1976-1980 was spent in Mirage III-C training and operations. In 1980, as one of the IAF’s establishment team of the first F-16 Squadron in Israel, he attended the F-16 Training Course at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. From 1981-1983, he served as the Deputy Squadron Commander B, F-16 Squadron. From 1983-1987, he attended the University of Tel Aviv. From 1988-1990, he served as Deputy Squadron Commander A, F-4 Phantom Squadron. During 1990, he attended the Squadron Commanders Course. From 1990-1992, he served as Squadron Commander, F-16 Squadron. From 1992-1994, he was Head of the Aircraft Branch in the Operations Requirement Department. In 1994, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and assigned as Head of the Department of Operational Requirement for Weapon Development and Acquisition. He stayed at this post until 1998.

Col. Ramon has accumulated over 3,000 flight hours on the A-4, Mirage III-C, and F-4, and over 1,000 flight hours on the F-16.

NASA EXPERIENCE:
In 1997, Col. Ramon was selected as a Payload Specialist. He is designated to train as prime for a Space Shuttle mission with a payload that includes a multispectral camera for recording desert aerosol. In July 1998, he reported for training at the Johnson Space Center, Houston.

JULY 1998

Ramon Spaceflight Log

  • 16 January 2003 Flight: STS-107. Flight Up: STS-107. Flight Back: STS-107. Flight Time: 15.94 days.

Ramon Chronology

16 January 2003 - STS-107. Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight: STS-107. The last solo shuttle earth orbit mission ended in tragedy when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. Launch delayed from May 23, June 27, July 11 and 19, November 29, 2002.


16 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #02. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's crewmembers unstowed equipment and began activation of the Spacehab Research Double Module in the shuttle's cargo bay, setting the stage for 24-hour-a-day science during the shuttle's 16-day research mission.

Columbia lifted off at 9:39 a.m. CST from the Kennedy Space Center in near-perfect ...more...


16 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #01. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center this morning on the first shuttle mission of the year, carrying the first Israeli astronaut into orbit along with six crewmates on a marathon international scientific research flight.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana ...more...


17 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #03. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. In their first full day in orbit, Columbia's seven crewmembers completed activation of the SPACEHAB Research Double Module in the shuttle's cargo bay and all of its scientific experiments.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...


18 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #04. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts pointed two Israeli cameras over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean today in search of small dust particles that might impact the weather and began experiments in human life sciences in the third day of the STS-107 scientific research flight.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...


19 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #05. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's astronauts studied combustion properties and the response of their own bodies in weightlessness and the behavior of soot in space one-quarter of the way through their marathon scientific research mission.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...


20 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #06. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's astronauts conducted scientific studies ranging from the behavior of granular materials in weightlessness to the effects of microgravity on fungi, and filmed the sprites associated with thunderstorms across the globe as their scientific research flight continued in its fifth day.

Red team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...


21 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #07. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The seven astronauts aboard Columbia continued to conduct scientific studies 24-7 today, concentrating their efforts on combustion in weightlessness, the growth of cell cultures, and measurements of the ozone layer.

The Blue Team was awakened at 3:39 p.m. CDT to the sounds of "The Wedding Song" ...more...


22 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #08. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The seven astronauts aboard Columbia beamed down television views of their smallest companions in orbit today, including insects, spiders, fish, bees and silk worms that are part of the Space Technology and Research Students package of experiments designed and developed by students in six countries.

The television pictures showed ants busily creating and moving about tunnels in ...more...


23 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #09. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The STS-107 scientific research mission aboard Columbia passed the halfway mark today as the 80 microgravity investigations continue on schedule.

Highlighting the investigations today for both the Blue and Red Teams were the SOFBALL ...more...


24 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #10. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Research continued aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia today as the seven astronauts aboard continued to work in shifts, coordinating work with investigators on the ground.

Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark, and ...more...


25 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #11. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts completed an experiment studying the activity of bone cells in microgravity and began final tests with a technology demonstration designed to investigate the behavior of capillary-pumped loops in space as the 16-day international science mission completed Flight Day 10.

Toward the end of their workday at 1 a.m. CST this morning, Pilot Willie McCool ...more...


26 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #12. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Scientific research continued aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia today as the STS-107 mission headed into the homestretch with a variety of experiments in multiple disciplines.

The Red team of astronauts, working by day, and the Blue team, working by night, ...more...


27 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #13. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Some experiments have run their course aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, but there is more in store as STS-107 science continues around the clock in the Spacehab Research Double Module.

The Structures of Flame Balls experiment, looking at ways of improving engine combustion ...more...


28 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #14. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The Red team of astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia accomplished repairs on the third and final combustion experiment of STS-107 this afternoon, and support scientists on the ground were looking forward to working with the Blue team on the first scientific runs.

Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla reported a good leak check of the Combustion Module-2 ...more...


29 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #15. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's seven astronauts took a break from their around-the-clock scientific research today to answer reporters' questions in the traditional on-orbit crew news conference.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana ...more...


30 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #16. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia are completing their final runs on experiments in the Spacehab Research Double Module and beginning preparations for Saturday's landing.

Most of the 80 experiments already have completed their data collection, and today ...more...


31 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #17. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia crewmembers deactivated experiments and began stowing gear to prepare for their scheduled Saturday landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana ...more...


1 February 2003 - Loss of STS-107. Assignment: Return Crew. Flight: STS-107. The shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. All hands aboard were lost. The loss grounded the shuttle fleet pending a failure investigation and left the crew of Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin aboard the International Space Station with a Soyuz emergency return vehicle but without means of major station resupply.
1 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #19. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts were lost today when the vehicle broke up over north central Texas during its reentry from orbit.

Communications were lost with Columbia and its crew at around 8:00 a.m. CST, while ...more...


2 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #20. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Aided by federal and local agencies, NASA stepped up its inquiry into the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts. Multiple investigative teams continue to pore over engineering data in an effort to uncover the cause of the breakup of the orbiter over Texas on Saturday 16 minutes from landing.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore told an afternoon briefing that a Mishap ...more...


3 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #21. Flight: ISS EO-6. NASA engineers continued to review data and recover debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia today as the analysis of what caused the orbiter to break up Saturday en route to landing continued.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore told an afternoon briefing that several ...more...


4 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #22. Flight: ISS EO-6. As NASA paused to pay tribute to Columbia's astronauts, the agency reported making "considerable progress" in recovering debris from the Space Shuttle and analyzing data in the search for clues to what caused the orbiter to breakup 16 minutes before its landing last Saturday.

President and Mrs. Bush joined NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in honoring astronauts ...more...



Bibliography and Further Reading  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Contact us with any corrections, additions, or comments.
Conditions for use of drawings, pictures, or other materials from this site..
To contact astronauts or cosmonauts.

© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2007 except where otherwise noted.

 
Encyclopedia Astronautica
topic index
0 - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - Ra - Re - Sa - Sf - Sp - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z