Posted on 02/01/2004 2:08:13 PM PST by veronica
The families of the six American astronauts killed in the Columbia shuttle disaster a year ago will visit Israel at the invitation of Rona Ramon, the wife of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, reports ynet.
The visit is supposed to take place in March and last for a week, said Evelyn Husband, the wife of the commander of the crew, Rick.
"I am very close to Rona and love her with all my heart," Mrs. Husband said of the wife of Ilan Ramon, who was the first Israeli in space. "Despite our differences - she is Jewish and I am Christian - we have prayed together many times before."
The announcement comes as family members and top military officials marked the first anniversary of the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, in which 7 astronauts lost their lives.
Sunday's emotional event was marked by Lt. Colonel Ziv, Colonel Ilan Ramon's Squadron Commander, who gave Ramon's wife her husband's Air Force helmet.
At Cape Canaveral, NASA workers, space program supporters and volunteers who scoured the fields for the shuttle's remains also united to mourn and remember.
"One year ago, at this very hour, the unthinkable occurred," the director of Kennedy Space Center, Jim Kennedy, told the crowd of a few hundred who gathered on a gray, drizzly morning.
Kennedy quietly cited the names of the seven Columbia astronauts, carved into the black granite memorial behind him.
The US ceremony began at 1400 GMT, the moment communication ceased with Columbia over Texas, and ended at 1416 GMT, the time the spacecraft should have been landing at the runway, just several miles from the NASA memorial.
By then, on Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia had shattered into tens of thousands of pieces that fell on East Texas and Louisiana.
The two special crew members ping.
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