Editing Ilan Ramon (section)

==NASA experience==
[[Image:Ilan Ramon.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Ramon in November 2001]]

===NASA on-ground trainings===
In 1997, Ramon was selected as a [[Payload Specialist]]. He was designated to train as prime for a space shuttle mission with a payload that included a [[multispectral]] camera for recording desert [[aerosol]] (dust). In July 1998, Ramon reported for training at the [[Johnson Space Center]] in [[Houston|Houston, Texas]], where he trained until 2003. Ramon flew aboard [[STS-107]], logging 15 days, 22 hours and 20 minutes in space.

===Space flight: STS-107, Space Shuttle ''Columbia''===
[[Image:Ilan ramon sts-107.jpg|right|thumb|Ramon photographed aboard ''Columbia'' on January 26, 2003]]
STS-107 ''Columbia'' (January 16 – February 1, 2003), a 16-day flight, was a dedicated science and research mission. Working 24 hours a day, in two alternating shifts, the crew successfully conducted approximately 80 experiments.

Personally nonreligious, Ramon performed traditional observance while in orbit: "I feel I am representing all Jews and all Israelis." He was the first astronaut to request [[kosher]] food and marked the Sabbath.<ref>{{cite web|last=Konikov |first=Zvi |url=http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/633325/jewish/Remembering-Ilan-Ramon.htm |title=official website |publisher=Chabad.org |access-date=September 1, 2011}}</ref> Ramon, whose mother and grandmother were survivors of [[Auschwitz]], was asked by S. Isaac Mekel, director of development at the American Society for [[Yad Vashem]], to take an item from Yad Vashem aboard STS-107. Ramon carried with him a pencil sketch, ''Moon Landscape'', drawn by 16-year-old [[Petr Ginz]], who was murdered in Auschwitz. Ramon also took with him a [[microfiche]] copy of the [[Torah]] given to him by Israeli president [[Moshe Katsav]] and a miniature Torah scroll (from the Holocaust) that was given to him by Prof. Yehoyachin Yosef, a [[Bergen Belsen]] survivor.<ref>{{cite book |title=Keeping the Promise |last=Lehman-Wilzig |first=Tami |author2=Craig Orback |year=2003 |publisher=Kar-Ben publishing |location=MN |isbn=1-58013-118-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/keepingpromiset00lehm |url-access=registration |access-date=May 2, 2011 |ref=LEHMAN-WILZIG_2003}}</ref> Ramon asked the 1939 Club, a [[Holocaust survivor]] organization in Los Angeles, for a symbol of the Holocaust to take into outer space with him. A barbed wire [[mezuzah]] by the [[San Francisco]] artist [[Aimee Golant]] was selected. Ramon also took with him a dollar of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi [[Menachem M. Schneerson]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Irene |url=http://jta.org/news/article/2003/01/27/9859/Israeliastronautto |title=Israeli astronaut busy up in space |publisher=Jta.org |date=January 27, 2003 |access-date=September 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130160622/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2003/01/27/9859/Israeliastronautto |archive-date=November 30, 2011 }}</ref> 

Ramon and the rest of the ''Columbia'' crew died over East Texas in the [[Southern United States]] during entry into Earth's atmosphere, 16 minutes before scheduled landing.<ref name="nasabio" />

===Diary===
Among the recovered 40% from the contents of the ''Columbia'' Space Shuttle that crashed outside [[Palestine, Texas]], were 37 pages of Ramon's diary, which NASA returned to his wife.<ref name=PC40.Wired>{{cite magazine  |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]
   |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/10/dairy-survived
   |title=Diary Survived Shuttle Accident, Goes On Display
   |quote=cardboard-covered, three-ring bound .. found wet and crumpled .. field .. Palestine, Texas.
   |author=Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides  |date=October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news  |newspaper=LATimes.com [[Los Angeles Times]]
   |title=Pride Turns to Grief and Disbelief in Israel
   |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-feb-02-na-israel2-story.html
   |date=February 2, 2003}}</ref> His widow, Rona,<ref name=PC40.Wired/> shared an excerpt with the Israeli public in a display at [[Jerusalem]]'s [[Israel Museum]].<ref name="diary1">{{cite news|first=Shawna |last=Ohm|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-10-03-astronaut-diary_N.htm|title=Astronaut's diary goes on display in Jerusalem|publisher=Associated Press|date=October 3, 2008|access-date=October 23, 2011}}</ref> Rona Ramon brought it to Israel Museum [[forensic]] experts. Only two pages were displayed, one containing Ramon's notes, and the other is a copy of the [[Kiddush]] [[prayer]].<ref name="diary1"/> [[Curator]] [[Yigal Zalmona]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//081003/481/e19cacc4165d4e6b83e2b9dc67401ad0/#photoViewer=/081003/481/e19cacc4165d4e6b83e2b9dc67401ad0 |title=Photos of "miracle" diary '''here''' |publisher=yahoo.com |access-date=September 1, 2011}}</ref> said the [[diary]] was partially restored in one year, and needed four more, for police scientists to decipher 80% of the text. Zalmona stated: "The diary survived extreme heat in the explosion, extreme atmospheric cold, and then was attacked by microorganisms and insects. It's almost a miracle that it survived — it's incredible. There is 'no rational explanation' for how it was recovered when most of the shuttle was not."<ref name="diary1"/> Ramon wrote on the last day of the journal: {{quote|Today was the first day that I felt that I am truly living in space. I have become a man who lives and works in space.}}
Inscribed in black ink and [[pencil]], it covered the first six days of the 16-day mission.<ref>{{cite news|author=Toni O'Loughlin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/04/israelandthepalestinians.spaceexploration |title=Diary that survived shuttle blast goes on show|publisher=Guardian |date= October 4, 2008|access-date=September 1, 2011 |location=London}}</ref>