Israel prime minister invites Indian-born astronaut’s family

Text of report by Indian news agency PTI

Jerusalem, 19 February: Indian-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla’s family will be visiting Israel next month, along with relatives of other crew members on the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia which disintegrated mid-air last year.

The astronauts’ family members will visit Israel at the invitation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered to them during a satellite call to cosmonaut Ilan Ramon during the ill-fated shuttle mission.

“Kalpana’s sister and niece, Romie and Megha, have confirmed that they will fly down from New Delhi and will be joined here by her husband, Jean Pierre Harrison, from Texas for a week to participate in various functions to be organized to honour the memory of the astronauts,” Michal Ogolnik, a spokesperson for Ministry of Science and Technology said.

The delegation will consist of 30 people, including the spouses of the astronauts and their children, siblings and other family members.

After the prime minister made that offer, “we felt it was important to keep the promise, and therefore we invited the families. To our delight, they accepted,” said Minister of Science and Technology Eliezer Sandberg.

“After what these families have been through the year, we just want them to have good and relaxing time here and to show them the nice side of Israel that Ilan Ramon represented,” he added.