Israel announced on Monday that it is sending the second Israeli astronaut in history into outer space at the end of 2021.

Eytan Stibbe, an entrepreneur who founded Vital Capital Fund and a former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, will blast off on a scientific mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Stibbe will spend about 200 hours in space, carrying out scientific experiments incorporating Israeli technology and scientific developments. He will begin training for the mission in the near future and will be undergoing intense training in the three months prior to the mission in the US, Germany, and Russia.

The historical mission was announced at a press conference at Israel’s President’s Residence by President Reuven Rivlin, the Ramon Foundation, and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Stibbe was one of the founders of the Ramon Foundation and serves on its board of directors.

Tal Ramon, the son of deceased Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed during the Columbia shuttle disaster of 2003, spoke at the conference. Tal’s mother, Rona, who established the Ramon Foundation following her husband’s death, passed away in 2018 at the age of 54. She suffered another personal tragedy in 2009, when her son, Captain Assaf Ramon, a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, was killed in a training accident

The international mission will be led by Axiom space and the Israeli mission will be led by the Ramon Foundation, in cooperation with the Israeli Space Agency, and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)