Ramon, 48, was the payload specialist and was the first Israeli in space. A commander in the Israeli Air Force, he was also a fighter pilot.

He was the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors. He carried a tiny Torah school aboard Columbia, along with a painting, titled "Moon Landscape," that was drawn by a boy who was later killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Approved by NASA in 1998, he was making his first spaceflight.

He was married and had four children.