Journey of Hope

In 1995, President Bill Clinton announced that a future NASA space shuttle flight would carry an Israeli astronaut. In January 2003, that promise was fulfilled when Colonel Ilan Ramon, a decorated and heroic Israeli Air Force pilot, was part of the crew of space shuttle Columbia, flight STS-107. Two weeks after it was launched, within minutes of its scheduled landing, the ship disintegrated, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

This book chronicles the selection, training, flight, and death of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, over a seven-year period. Ramon was the child of a Holocaust survivor and of parents who came to Israel to build new lives. He personified the best of Israel: a family man, a committed Israeli, a proud Jew, a war hero, and, as well, a quiet, modest person.

Journey of Hope captures the drama, humor, and humanity of the life and death of Colonel Ilan Ramon.