Posted on 02/03/2003 4:51:53 PM PST by yonif
Rona, the widow of Col. Ilan Ramon, is to meet with US President George W. Bush in Houston on Tuesday at a national ceremony honoring the Columbia astronauts.
President Moshe Katsav interrupted his talks Monday with the National Union to speak to Ramon, who said the family is to return to Israel next week.
According to Katsav's spokesman, she told Katsav she was coming home to arrange Col. Ilan Ramon's funeral.
Katsav conveyed his and the country's condolences to Ramon, telling her that her husband had captured the hearts and minds of the Israeli people. It was a very emotional and painful conversation, Katsav said afterward.
Speaking to Channel 1, the astronaut's brother and father, Gadi and Eliezer Wolferman, said that NASA had worked hard on behalf on the mission and Ilan.
They both said they didn't believe media allegations of NASA safety negligence. "I don't believe that such a thing could be the case," Gadi said.
Wolferman told Channel 1 that, upon his arrival in Houston on Sunday, Rona gave him a photograph of the shuttle crew that Ilan had left for him, signed by each astronaut. Ilan himself wrote on it, "Dad, this is it, we're in space. I'm proud to be your son today. Your beloved son, Ilan."
He said he was in e-mail contact with his son while he was in space. In his last e-mail to Ilan he jokingly wrote, "You're probably packing your things. Don't forget to take your toothbrush." "I don't know if he responded, because I haven't checked my e-mail since," Wolferman said.
While in Houston he has been spending time with his family and those of the other astronauts. "Everyone is sad and broken," Wolferman said, adding that his daughter-in-law has made no final plans regarding a permanent return to Israel.
Members of the Israeli scientific team that followed Ramon's progress in space arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday.
"We knew when they ate and when they woke up. They were part of us," scientist Yoav Yair told Channel 1 at the airport. "We've gone over and over again the last words we spoke to Ramon. We told him, 'Way to go!' "
Atmospheric scientist Joachim Yosef, another team member, had given Ilan a miniature Torah bestowed upon him by an Amsterdam rabbi who shared his barracks in 1944.
The rabbi had arranged a bar-mitzva ceremony for him and then gave him the scroll, making him promise to tell the story if he survived. "Ilan allowed me to fulfill a promise, made almost 60 years ago, in front of the whole world," said to Channel 1. "I did what I promised. The Torah scroll now has a life of its own, even if it will never be returned."
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