Jews in Space

[Splanky]

Mel Brooks movies aside, was Ilan Ramon the first Jew in space?

[Splanky]

Note: I’ve looked at a lot of news articles for this. It always subtlely says something like “This is a very important feat for Jews across the world. Being the first Israeli in space…” they avoid saying he’s the first JEW in space.

[scr4]

Astronaut David Wolf is a Jew. This article about him says that “a number of Jewish astronauts have soared into outer space,” but it doesn’t seem to list the name of others.

[Atreyu]

Jewhoo!'s page for their Astronauts/Aeronautics section lists the following individuals as Jewish astronauts:

[ul]
Martin J. Fettman
John Grunsfeld
Jeffrey Hoffman
Scott Horowitz
Marsha Ivins
[/ul]

Looks like they will have to update the list to include Ilan Ramon.

[KarlGauss]

Wasn’t Judy Resnick, who perished in the Challenger disaster, Jewish?

[hajario]

*Originally posted by KarlGauss *
**Wasn’t Judy Resnick, who perished in the Challenger disaster, Jewish? **

She was.

Haj

[cmkeller]

Oh, goody…I get to be the first one to say (in this thread)

[Muppet Show]
Jewwws…in…Spaaaaaaaaace!
[/Muppet Show]

Thank you for the oppotunity. ;j

[ElvisL1ves]

There’s an Agence France Press report on the company Intranet (no link, sorry) that adds some sidelight information on Ilan Ramon’s flight. Selected quotes:

How do you observe the Jewish Sabbath when you are orbiting Earth, seeing the sun rise and set 16 times each 24-hour period? …
“As an Israeli and as a Jew, I asked NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) if it would be possible to supply kosher food for my menu in space,” he said.

The US space agency had no problem in accommodating him. “I was surprised and overwhelmed with the effort NASA put in trying to accommodate my request,” he said.

Regarding the Sabbath, which Ramon said he wants to observe as “an act of solidarity with the Jewish tradition,” things were not so easy.
…the sun rises and sets 16 times a day aboard the shuttle.

In strict adherence to tradition, Ramon would have to stop working every seventh orbit around the Earth, something impractical aboard the shuttle.

To solve the theological dilemma, Ramon turned to the highest religious authority he could find: the Hasidic rabbi of Satellite Beach, near Cape Canaveral.

While there have been other Jewish astronauts in the past – Dave Wolf celebrated Hanukkah aboard the Russian space station Mir, Ramon is the first one interested in observing the Sabbath.

“It was always reserved for a theoretical. This is the first time that it’s actually happening,” said rabbi Zvi Konikov, a member of the Hasidic Lubavitch group.

Through a colleague in New York, Konikov consulted a group of respected rabbis called “poskim”, authorized to rule on such theological questions based on the Jewish halara (oral) tradition.

After long debate, the rabbis ruled that time is not measured by what a person sees as the rising and setting of the sun, but by an objective fact: the Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours, Konikov explained.

Regardless of how quickly Ramon travels in orbit, the Earth continues to spin at the same speed, the venerable panel concluded.

So for Ramon, the day of rest will come every seventh day in orbit – an astonishing Sabbath with 16 sunsets that no Jew before him has ever observed.

[lucwarm]

“It was always reserved for a theoretical. This is the first time that it’s actually happening,” said rabbi Zvi Konikov, a member of the Hasidic Lubavitch group.

I understand that an analogous problem has come up before - when Jewish sailors end up north of the Arctic Circle.

[Alessan]

The funny thing is that Ramon is not an observant Jew, and has told the press that normally he neither keeps kosher nor shomer shabat. He took kosher food with him as a matter of principle.

[F.U.Shakespeare]

A few years ago, I worked with a brother of shuttle astronaut Scott Horowitz. The brother wore a yarmulke. I always wanted to ask him if Scott was permitted to wear his on missions (assuming he too wore one).

[ElvisL1ves]

*Originally posted by Alessan *
**The funny thing is that Ramon is not an observant Jew, and has told the press that normally he neither keeps kosher nor shomer shabat. He took kosher food with him as a matter of principle. **

I had thought it was because he was representing his country on this flight, not just himself, and there is a large Orthodox population in Israel that it might be best not to annoy unnecessarily. Certainly you’d know better, though.

[Alessan]

That’s the principle I mentioned.