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Report Families of Columbia astronauts to visit Israel

Posted on: Sunday, 1 February 2004, 06:00 CST

JERUSALEM (AP) -- The families of the six American astronauts killed in the Columbia shuttle disaster a year ago will visit Israel at the invitation of Rona Ramon, the wife of the Israeli astronaut of the crew, an Israeli Internet site reported Sunday.

The visit is supposed to take place in March and last for a week, said Evelyn Husband, the wife of the commander of the crew, Rick. She spoke in an interview with Ynet, the Web site affiliated with the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

``I am very close to Rona and love her with all my heart,'' Mrs. Husband said of the wife of Ilan Ramon, who was the first Israeli in space. ``Despite our differences -- she is Jewish and I am Christian -- we have prayed together many times before.''

Husband said the exact date of the visit had not yet been worked out and did not give specifics on who would visit and the trip's itinerary.

The families on Sunday were marking at the Kennedy Space Center in Texas the one-year memorial of the shuttle's disintegration as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere after a 16-day scientific flight. A ceremony was scheduled to begin at the moment contact ended with Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003.

The tragedy has been blamed on a piece of foam insulation that tore a hole in Columbia's left wing during liftoff on Jan. 16, 2003, and allowed hot atmospheric gases to enter during re-entry.

Evelyn Husband has written a book about her husband and the Columbia project, entitled ``High Calling.''

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