Saying goodbye to Asaf Ramon

September 14, 2009 - 10:46 AM by Nicky · 2 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, General, Life, Travel

Happier times: Asaf and Rona Rimon at his graduation ceremony this summer. Photo by Dudu Greenspan/Flash 90.

In a country as tiny as Israel, it doesn’t take bad news long to spread. Yesterday was no exception. Even before his death was announced in the press, rumors were spreading that Asaf Ramon, son of the ill-fated Ilan Ramon – Israel’s first astronaut – had been killed in a training accident in an F-16.

No death in the Israeli army is ever taken lightly. This is a place where every father, son, brother, cousin or boyfriend has to serve, but the tragedy of this death, coming just a few years after his father’s, was apparent to all.

In February 2003, an intifada-scarred Israel watched with pride as Ilan Ramon became the first Israeli in space. His progress on the US shuttle Columbia, his reports back home, gave Israel a ray of hope in what was frankly an awful time. Even kids in kindergarten knew of his accomplishments and spoke about him as if he were a national hero.

On re-entry into earth’s atmosphere, the shuttle broke up and Ramon and the rest of the crew were all killed. All that remained of Ramon were a few pages of his diary , which were found two months later in a field – ironically, in the town of Palestine in Texas.

Asaf Ramon was 15 when his father died. He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, and vowed that one day he too would go into space.

Like his father before him he was a top student, and he completed his flight-training course in the IAF as the best cadet in his class. In his passing out ceremony in July, President Peres gave him his wings.

We still don’t know what happened, or why Asaf Ramon crashed. He was flying at 720km an hour when he lost control of the plane near the Hebron Hills. Was it technical error or pilot error? What is clear is that in Israel this isn’t the personal tragedy of one family, it’s a tragedy for all.

The tributes are pouring in on blog sites everywhere, from Diamond Pilots, which carries a full story of the crash , to Dvir Reznik, who writes on his blog :

“Asaf – I hope you’ll find joy and peace where ever you are, watching over us from high in the clouds, reunited with your father.”

On NASA Watch, readers discuss in awe how a 20-year-old could be flying an F-16.

Unsurprisingly, Ramon’s death has opened up the whole painful argument of whether Israel should allow combat service by sons of bereaved families. At present it requires written consent by the mother, a less than ideal solution as any pressurized mother can vouch.

Back at my home all I could think of was what Rona Ramon went through when officers from the IAF knocked on her door for the second time in six years with the very worst kind of news.

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