On the occasion of SpaceIL’s historic mission to the Moon, Piven created a portrait of Israel’s first and only astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon, a member of the team aboard Space Shuttle Columbia that went into orbit in 2003. Tragically, Ramon was killed, along with the other six members of the Columbia crew, when the Space Shuttle exploded upon re-entry.
Through this portrait, we explore both Ramon’s relationship to Judaism and Israel, as well as Israel’s relationship to space exploration.
Ramon spoke frequently about his feeling of pride at being a Jewish astronaut, as well as one who represents Israel. He’s the first astronaut to request kosher food in space, and he brought a number of Jewish and Israeli objects into space, including mezuzot and a Torah that survived the Holocaust.
Looking from the space shuttle, Ramon and another astronaut commented that the view reminded them of John Lennon’s song, Imagine, adding:
“Earth is one unity and no borders are seen.”