Who was Ilan Ramon?
Training and Waiting By late 1999, plans were set for a 2001 launch for Ilan’s flight, but few details about the mission were available. In 2000, Air Force Magazine revealed that Ilan was to be a crew member on Columbia, flight STS-107, then scheduled for launch in April or May 2001. NASA officially announced Ilan’s participation in the crew, along with astronauts Mike Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, Dave Brown, and Laurel Clark, in September 2000. In December, NASA added Rick Husband and Willie McCool. On a visit to Israel, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said Ilan would be launched into space May 23, 2002, instead of mid-2001 as had been originally intended. The shuttle’s orbit and launch window would be tailored to fit the science requirements for the Israeli-sponsored MEIDEX (Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment) project. The experiment was designed to test how dust particles from storms affect the climate of the Middle East. MEIDEX featured a specially calibrated video camera that wou
