Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday the late Ramon was “a hero of Israel in terms of generosity and light. “
By HAGAY HACOHENRona Ramon speaks at The Jerusalem Post conference(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The late Rona Ramon will be awarded the Israel Prize posthumously for her lifetime achievements, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday.Ramon, widow of Israel’s pioneer astronaut Ilan Ramon and the mother of IAF pilot Assaf Ramon, who at age 21 was killed in a training accident, succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2018.After her husband’s death, Ramon was a leading force in a series of educational efforts, among them Israel Space Week, holding nation-wide competitions about space and astronomy as well as creating the Ramon Foundation to promote youth interest in space.Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut. He perished in 2003 during the fatal Columbia space shuttle mission, when the spacecraft disintegrated over Texas as it was re-entering Earth. The Ramon family said that while “the prize holds no comfort, it does carry a lot of pride.”“Our mother was able to take a life which was painful and turn it to a life-long mission that gives other people hope,” her children Yiftah Noa and Tal said in a press release.
