Ynet News – ynetnews.com
Ex-IAF fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe to join International Space Station for 20 months of experiments as part of partnership between Ramon Foundation and State of Israel; Rivlin urges Stibbe to ‘continue and fulfil legacy’ of Ramon family
Israel will send its second astronaut into space at the end of 2021, with former IAF fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe set to join a scientific mission to the International Space Station.
The announcement of the mission was made jointly by President Reuven Rivlin, the Ramon Foundation and the Ministry of Science and Technology on Monday at the president’s Jerusalem residence.
Stibbe is due to start his mission at the end of 2021, as part of a partnership between the Ramon Foundation and the State of Israel, making him a pioneer in the global private space industry.
The Ramon Foundation is a non-governmental organization for young people named for Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died during the Columbia space shuttle disaster in February 2003, his late son Assaf Ramon, who died in a 2009 training flight accident, and his wife Rona Ramon, who lost her battle with cancer in 2018.
The former pilot is set to spend 200 hours onboard the ISS, conducting an unprecedented range of experiments using Israeli technology and scientific developments, President Rivlin’s office said in a statement.