Posted on 02/07/2003 9:13:02 AM PST by yonif
Col. Ilan Ramon's military funeral will be held Tuesday at Moshav Nahalal at the request of the family.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other government representatives, as well as officials from the IDF, NASA, and the US government will attend the ceremony, which will be broadcast by local and international media.
Ramon was one of seven astronauts killed when the shuttle Columbia broke up last Saturday as it reentered Earth's atmosphere.
Eila Eilat, a spokeswoman for the Jezreel Valley Regional Council, said the family chose the moshav's military cemetery because it had lived in the area at one time and still has many friends there, including some who had flown to Florida for the launch and who also went to Houston to be with the family.
The cemetery is one of the oldest in the area. Among those buried there are former defense minister Moshe Dayan and Maj.-Gen. Moshe (Musa) Peled.
Also on Thursday, at a memorial service at the Washington National Catheredral, US Vice President Dick Cheney mourned the Columbia astronauts as seven lost explorers of different faiths and backgrounds who were "bound together in the great cause of discovery.'" One of the cathedral's stained glass windows holds a piece of moon rock.
The astronauts were "united not by faith or heritage, but by the calling they answered and shared," Cheney said. "They were bound together in the great cause of discovery. They were envoys to the unknown. They advanced human understanding by showing human courage."
The cathedral was filled with mourners wearing space shuttle lapel pins, including many members of the astronaut's families. There were tears as singer Patti LaBelle performed "Way Up There," a song about space travel. An Israeli flag was displayed alongside the American flag in honor of Ramon.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said the Columbia crew "represented the best of the human spirit." "They did their chosen calling proud, and they had a special grace," he said, embodying the tradition of the select few who become astronauts. "Our explorers go forward into the unknown with hope and faith."
NASA received an outpouring of support from the astronaut's families and the nation, O'Keefe said.
He pledged that the space agency would find the cause of the accident and go on with space exploration and research that might yield better ways of fighting cancer or other medical breakthroughs.
"We will persevere," he said. "We will not let you down."
It's only right and proper that Ramon should be buried in such a place. And Sharon, the Israeli PM, should attend. Ramon achieved much in his life, and leaves a proud legacy to his family. RIP
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