In the past, Stibbe served in the Israeli Air Force for many years, and in one particularly daring mission he shot down four enemy Syrian aircraft. He’s also founded his own venture capital firm, Vital Capital, which builds infrastructure in impoverished underserved communities in Africa.
A former colleague of Israel’s fallen-first astronaut Ilan Ramon, he knew the Ramon family well and helped co-found the Ramon Foundation to commemorate the Ramon family, and which he will be dedicating his time aboard the space station in the areas of science and education. Stibbe, who will be Israel’s and one of the world’s first private astronauts, is married to Ora and they have three children and four grandchildren.
As for his passion for space, it stemmed from his childhood watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon. “I remember that as a very exciting moment, but all those missions stopped. We live in Israel, so there isn’t a lot of attention on the space industry,” Stibbe told the Report.
He met Ilan Ramon in 1981 when the two served together in the same flight squadron No. 117. In 1991, the two became good friends when Ramon later served as the commander of that unit. “When he was appointed to become an astronaut, I visited him at the Johnson Center in Houston,” Stibbe said. “He showed me the facilities, the mock-up and simulator of the Columbia shuttle, and the pool where they train for space walks. Suddenly, I understood what most Americans know: space is accessible. People sign up to become astronauts, they train for several years, then they go up and come back down and go up again. It’s real, it’s possible. I didn’t expect it to become possible for me.”
He and his family attended Ramon’s launch from Cape Canaveral. After the tragic deaths of both Ilan and his son, Asaf, Stibbe along with Ramon’s wife, Rona, established the Ramon Foundation, and stayed in contact with astronauts who come annually to Israel for Israeli Space Week.
Despite being heavily-involved in Israel’s space industry, it took some time before talk became an actual plan. Last summer, Stibbe called to congratulate his friend, former NASA astronaut and SpaceX manager Garrett Reisman, after SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station.
“He said to me, you know people can go to space, right? I said, okay well, people have been going to space for 60 years, so what’s so impressive about that? He then asked me whether I was coming, and I said ‘yes.’ In retrospect, it was only afterward that I began to understand what that meant, how long it would take, and what the options were, but I was ready. The moment the chance came along, I knew I would go for it.”
Upon his April visit to Florida, he met with several senior NASA and SpaceX officials, including the launch pad where he will blast off from next year. The next steps of his training include an outdoor excursion in the Alaskan wilderness with his other crew members – Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Michael Lopez-Alegria – sans cellphones.
“We’ll be trekking with heavy backpacks, and surviving for a week out in the wilderness which will be fun. To remind you, it’s not a young crew,” he quipped. “Then there’s some initial crew training in August in SpaceX, and from October until the launch, it will be full-time at the Johnson Space Center, with visits to Japan, Russia, and Europe to visit their facilities, see their simulators, and get acquainted with their segments of the space station.”
As a private astronaut, who is spearheading the commercial space industry, he will fly aboard a SpaceX rocket with AxiomSpace, and has paid $55 million for his ticket. “Our crew has weekly Zoom calls with AxiomSpace staff who take care of all the tiny details from what training we will undergo to what toothpaste we’ll use in space,” he added.
The commercial industry is booming, and the next decade hopes to see several more private astronauts embark on missions on behalf of countries, private organizations, and more. “I think the advantage of being a private astronaut is that I can open the door to others who aren’t in obvious scientific sectors. When you look at the ISS, you see a big laboratory where you can conduct many experiments. But, psychologists, philosophers, and artists are not invited to this exclusive club. I want that to change. Space is for everyone. We’re thinking of creating art exhibitions, whether with digital or actual art. I’d like to involve many more groups aside from the obvious people who are attracted by space.”
In addition to conducting 44 experiments aboard the station, Stibbe will be giving lessons in physics in Hebrew to Israeli schoolchildren, something that hasn’t been done for nearly 20 years since Ramon spoke to children in Hebrew aboard the Columbia.
The Ramon Foundation along with the Science and Technology Ministry and the Israel Space Agency have issued a call for teachers to prepare lesson plans which Stibbe will teach from space. “I’ll float in space, and show students the properties of liquids and physics while speaking to children in Hebrew. The mere idea of speaking in Hebrew to children from space is amazing, and I hope to address Israeli schoolchildren of all nationalities.”
As for his message to Israelis and Jews around the world watching, he remained lighthearted. “It’s a bit early for that,” he laughed, “but I believe that dreaming is essential and imagining the extremes is possible. When I told my wife that I would go to space, I won’t imitate the look she gave me, since there are several risks involved. Since Ilan’s launch, I have visited the industry in the US, and gained confidence in my abilities. I understand the inherent risks, and all the elements of the mission. I saw how Ilan grew from an astronaut in training to become so devoted to the Jewish people, and mainly in Israel and the US and Canada, where he spent a lot of his time.
“He had three years to prepare, and was waiting on standby in Houston for a while. The training that I will be going through is the same that he did – it only takes four months. He had plenty of time to visit many different Jewish communities, tell his story, and he was much younger than I am.
“This will be a great experience, and my intention is to involve as many people as possible, Israelis, Jews, and kids around the world. Even people in Africa, where my impact investing company, Vital Capital, has been heavily involved in investing in infrastructure there.”
Stibbe remained humble. When asked what he is most excited for, he said: “I think it’s the excitement, that first experience of floating – with no gravity – will be exciting. And there’s the big excitement in Israel, which I feel is pushing me forward too.”
Being a pioneer for an entire country is a heavy weight to carry on one’s shoulders. He laughs. “Yes, but the personal aspect is also very exciting.”
Very few people get to go to space, and this mission will certainly be the memory of a lifetime. “I think seeing the world from the outside will be spectacular,” Stibbe said. “When I asked my good friend Garrett, who is an experienced astronaut, how he felt on his first spacewalk, he answered, ‘When I pushed out of the hatch, I said: Wow. This is very high!’”