Columbia astronaut's diary on display
- 00:01:26
- ITN
Columbia astronaut's diary on display
Pages from an Israeli astronaut's diary, which survived the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia and a 37-mile fall to Earth, has gone on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The diary belonged to Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut and one of seven crew members killed when Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering the atmosphere on February 1, 2003. A little over two months after the shuttle explosion, NASA searchers found 37 pages from Mr Ramon's diary, wet and crumpled, in a field just outside the US town of Palestine, Texas. The diary survived extreme heat in the explosion, extreme atmospheric cold, and then survived the elements. The US space agency returned the diary to Mr Ramon's wife, Rona, who took it to forensics experts at the Israel Museum. Most of the pages contain personal information which Mrs Ramon did not wish to make public and no evidence was found that would suggest that Mr Ramon knew anything about potential problems on the shuttle. Columbia's wing was gashed by a chunk of fuel tank foam insulation at lift-off, and broke up in flames just 16 minutes before it was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. All seven astronauts on board were killed. The diary is being displayed as part of a larger exhibition of famous documents from Israel's history, held to mark the country's 60th anniversary this year.
ITN | October 5, 2008
