Son of Israel’s first astronaut killed in jet crash
THE son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon has been killed when his Israeli Air Force fighter plane crashed during training on Sunday.
JERUSALEM — The son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon has been killed in the crash of an Israeli Air Force fighter plane.
Captain Assaf Ramon, 20, died on Sunday while flying the F-16 aircraft as part of advanced training. He had completed the training course for pilots with honours in June, receiving his wings from Israeli President Shimon Peres.
He had escaped death in a training flight mishap in March.
Ilan Ramon was Israel’s first astronaut who was tragically killed in 2003 while aboard the US space shuttle Columbia when it broke apart upon its return to earth.
Following Sunday’s crash in the Hebron Hills the Israeli Air Force has ordered all F-16 training halted.
Ilan Ramon was a fighter pilot in the Air Force and participated in the 1981 strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor.
Assaf Ramon, the oldest of four children, was 15 when his father died. He had said he would like to become a pilot like his father and perhaps even an astronaut.
JTA
comments