Thousands of Israeli Youth Attend 'Space Week' Events Designed to Train Future Space Engineers

Jerusalem, 4 February, 2016 (TPS) -- Tel Aviv (TPS) – The fourth annual Israel Space Week was held this week between January 31 and February 4 in memory of Ilan Ramon, the first and only Israeli astronaut to travel to space. Ramon died along with the six members of his crew in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Many special events were held during the week throughout Israel for children and adults. The events focused on the topic of space engineering. The activities included a unique “space academy” for the training of young space engineers, star-gazing, satellite-building workshops, online lectures, experiments, three-dimensional simulations, and meetings with astronauts.

Remnants of the Space Shuttle Columbia were brought to Israel and presented to the public exactly 13 years after it caught fire and crashed while reentering the atmosphere from space. The remains were given to the Israel Space Agency by NASA as a special gesture for the 13th anniversary of Ramon’s death.

“This is closure for me and for all who deal with space research in Israel,” said Rona Ramon, Ilan Ramon’s widow, who made the request that NASA send the remains to Israel.

“I’m excited that the NASA administrator approved my request to bring the remains of the shuttle to Israel in order to enable our youth to receive some inspiration from Ilan’s story and to contribute to science and technology education,” she added.

The Israeli space industry has been one of the fastest growing fields in Israel in recent years. Israel is now one of just ten countries in the world capable of developing and operating its own satellites in space. Nevertheless, figures cited by the Israeli Science Ministry show that the industry has only 2,000 engineers, which are not enough to deal with the industry’s ongoing growth and development.

The Israel Space Agency hosted its first “space academy” at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv as part of the Space Week activities. The academy enabled young people to experience a simulated training course for space engineering.

The academy participants were required to accomplish a series of space-related missions in order to achieve a certificate. The participants were even able to meet with astronauts who came to Israel just for Space Week, including Shannon Walker and Joseph Acaba from NASA, Samantha Cristoforetti from the European Space Agency, and Yi So-yeon, the first Korean astronaut.

“Israel is a global leader in space technology, especially in miniaturized satellites, and our space industry will need thousands of brilliant and creative minds in the decades ahead,” said Israeli Science and Space Minister Ofir Akunis. “Experiential and inspirational activities such as the space academy will plant the seeds that will produce future space engineers.”

Education Ministry Director-General Michal Cohen said that Space Week was meant to get students interested in science and technology and to increase their natural curiosity about the secrets of space and the universe. “Technology is a language. The more students learn the language at a young age, the more they will tend to choose it as a career in the future,” she asserted.