Customer Reviews

Ilan Ramon : Israel's First Astronaut

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This well-written biography is perfect for both children and adults who want to learn more about Ilan Ramon, a space-age hero whose life ended tragically in the recent shuttle disaster. A good choice for kids, parents, and teachers.

This well-written biography of Ilan Ramon is really accessible to kids. It manages to be heartwarming and pay tribute to an extraordinary guy while being accurate like all good nonfiction should. My kids loved it!

This brief intro to the life of Ilan Ramon is well written, has beautiful, high-quality photos, and is very accessible to kids. Adults will probably learn something, too. (I did not know, for example, that Ramon's last name was originally Wolferman. After he graduated from flight school in Israel, he decided to take a Hebrew last name.)

The book opens with the blast-off of the space shuttle Columbia and the tragic explosion 16 days later. Then it goes back to "In the Beginning" with the story of Ilan Ramon's life, his career as a fighter pilot, how he was chose to be an astronaut, and his training at NASA. There's an explanation of what a space shuttle is and how it works, the jobs the astronauts do, etc. Also included are some of the experiments that kids had designed for the STARS program. As payload specialist, Ramon was in charge of monitoring these science experiments and reporting back to Earth about their progress.

Ilan was not a religious Jew, but he realized that, as the first Israeli astronaut ever, he was representing all kinds of Jews everywhere. He took several Jewish items aboard the shuttle Columbia, including a mezuzzah, a Torah scroll, and a drawing of a moonscape drawn by a 14-year-old boy who died in a Nazi concentration camp. Ramon also ate kosher food aboard the shuttle.

The last chapter, "Fallen Heroes," handles his death very well. The author explains that "Astronauts know the risk they are taking when they journey into space. But that doesn't make losing them any easier when tragedy strikes." (p. 37) The book closes with warm memories of Ilan from family, colleagues and friends, along with photos of his funeral. Altogether, this book presents a very human, personal picture of a hero that children of all backgrounds can look up to.

[Reviewer's P.S. Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut, but he was not the first Jew in space. That honor goes to American astronaut Judith Resnick, who perished aboard the Challenger shuttle in 1986. May they both rest in peace among the righteous souls in the heavenly Garden of Eden.]