Israel Space Agency’s first astronaut, part of the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia mission. A native of Ramat Gan, Ramonand served in the Israeli Air Force as a fighter pilot until he was selected in 1997 to participate in the Columbia mission as a payload specialist, particularly for Meidex, a multispectral camera used for recording desert aerosols; the mission was part of a cooperative agreement signed between the Israel Space Agency and NASA. During his 16 days in space, Ramon also helped the crew work for 24 hours a day to conduct 80 scientific experiments—including one planned and prepared by students from Ort Kiryat Motzkin Middle School in Israel that would show the difference between growing crystals in space as compared to growing them on Earth. Ramon perished along with his six crewmates on 1 February 2003 when a heat shield malfunction caused Columbia to disintegrate on re-entry.