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Profile: Israeli Astronaut Ilan Ramon Brings Pride To Israelis And Relief From Focusing On Ongoing Violence And Upcoming Election
All Things Considered: January 27, 2003
 Israel's First Astronaut
LYNN NEARY, host:
With national elections failing to capture the public imagination, many Israelis are instead casting their eyes skyward, in the direction of the current mission of the US space shuttle. Among the crew members is Israel's first astronaut, Colonel Ilan Ramon, a fighter pilot. Ramon is carrying out Israeli-designed experiments during his 16 days in space. As NPR's Linda Gradstein reports, for many Israelis, focusing on space is a welcome diversion from the situation on the ground.
LINDA GRADSTEIN reporting:
One day last week, as he prepared for crucial parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took time out to speak to Ilan Ramon by video linkup to the space shuttle Columbia. Broadcast live on both Israeli television channels and radio, Ramon said he was impressed with how beautiful the Earth looked from above.
SOUNDBITE OF BROADCAST
Colonel ILAN RAMON (Astronaut): (Through Translator) From space, Israel looks like it does on a map; small but charming. I think we have a great people in Israel, and we have to maintain our Jewish heritage.
GRADSTEIN: Ramon then held up a copy of the Torah he had taken on board with him. The scroll was brought to Israel by a Holocaust survivor after World War II. Prime Minister Sharon, not known for great displays of emotion, was clearly moved.
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Prime Minister ARIEL SHARON (Israel): (Through Translator) I would like to congratulate you for standing up as a Jew. Like you, I believe we are a special nation that has faced many difficulties and can achieve great things. You are one of our best achievements.
GRADSTEIN: Sharon then invited everyone aboard the shuttle to visit Israel and slipped in a little politicking.
SOUNDBITE OF BROADCAST
Prime Min. SHARON: I would like to thank you for everything that you are doing, for your friendship and understanding and that we are looking forward to meet you here in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for the last 3,000 years. You are mostly welcomed, all of you.
GRADSTEIN: For Israelis, battered by 27 months of terror and conflict with the Palestinians, focusing on space is easier than thinking about the violence or the upcoming elections. Not surprisingly, Ilan Ramon has become a national hero. The day of the launch, Israel Television broadcast hours of special programming, kindergartens and schools have entire bulletin boards devoted to the space shuttle and newspapers are running daily stories and pictures. Fourteen-year-old Neir Freiman(ph), who watched the broadcast from the prime minister's office, said Ramon's exploits are one of the highlights of his life and make him proud to be an Israeli.
NEIR FREIMAN (Israeli): It's a good way to show the good side of Israel, and they invited the space members to come to Israel. It's a good way to publish Israel, to make the people come here, and that's good.
GRADSTEIN: Moshe Halbertal, a professor of Jewish thought at the Hartman Institute and at Hebrew University, says Ramon's participation in the shuttle mission satisfies Israelis craving for normalcy.
Professor MOSHE HALBERTAL (Hartman Institute; Hebrew University): It's a kind of a safe adventure. Given the fact that it's in the outer space, it's safe, secure. It's daring yet normal. And I think this is a very deep quest given the day-to-day grinding conditions that Israelis are in now.
GRADSTEIN: Ramon is not a strictly observant Jew, but he has asked for kosher food in space and says he will observe the Jewish Sabbath. Israeli media reports say that during his career as an air force pilot, Ramon took part in the 1981 raid that destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor. Halbertal says the affable Ramon stirs many Israelis' patriotic feelings.
Prof. HALBERTAL: The ideal Israeli type and the one who's accomplished everything that you expect from an Israeli, being a fighter, being a pioneer, in the end is a deep attachment to the Jewish past. I think he himself resonates.
GRADSTEIN: Halbertal says Ramon also makes Israelis feel they are on the cutting edge of science and technology. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem.
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