After Ilan Ramon died in the Columbia space shuttle disaster of 2003, this hope was short-lived.

Yet, Israel persevered with its newest hope for the far-reaches beyond Earth’s fragile atmosphere — and all through commercialised spaceflight no less.

In front of a minimal audience, President Reuven Rivlin, along with members of the Ramon Foundation, the Science and Technology Ministry, the Israeli Space Agency and Israel Aerospace Industries, declared Eytan Stibbe as Israel’s second astronaut last month.

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