Israeli Delegation Tours NASA Operations

Stopping in Florida on a whirlwind tour of their hometown’s sister cities around the globe, Mayor Moshe Abutbul of Beit Shemesh, Israel, and two of his deputy mayors addressed Jewish community leaders in the Space Coast area before getting an up close look at NASA’s operations in Cape Kennedy.

The two-day midweek visit, which was facilitated in part by the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Community Center of the Space & Treasure Coasts, followed stops in Cedarhurst and Ramapo, N.Y., and Hangzhou, China. In Satellite Beach, Wednesday afternoon, Rabbi Zvi Konikov hosted Abutbul, vice mayor Dovid Weiner, city councilman Shalom Lerner, and city director of international affairs Meir Malkah, for a luncheon at the Chabad House.

That evening, the visiting dignitaries addressed the Cocoa Community Council during a dinner at Cocoa Village’s historic Porcher House, a restored estate once belonging to a citrus baron. Konikov scoured the location’s kitchen for the occasion so that the meal would be prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary laws.

The following day, NASA personnel and Konikov led the delegation on a tour of the Kennedy Space Center, which featured a glimpse of the new Ares launch vehicle set to replace the Space Shuttle program. Currently on Launch Pad 39B, the Ares vehicle is slated to be fired during an Oct. 27 test launch.

According to participants, a highlight of the tour was a special memorial service for fallen Israeli fighter pilot Asaf Ramon, who’s F-16 went down last month during a training flight in the hills outside Jerusalem. Presided over by Abutbul, the service took place in front of NASA’s Space Mirror Memorial, which remembers the lives of the men and women who have died during U.S. space operations, including Ramon’s father, Israeli Col. Ilan Ramon, a member of the ill-fated Columbia crew that perished on re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003.

Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Zvi Konikov and Beit Shemesh, Israel, Mayor Moshe Abutbul, fourth and fifth from right, stand with city officials from Cocoa Beach, Fl., and Beit Shemesh in the temporarily-kosher kitchen of the historic Porcher House.

Beit Shemesh vice mayor Shalom Lerner, left, and Mayor Moshe Abutbul pose in the dining room of the Porcher House with Cocoa Mayor Michael C. Blake and Rabbi Zvi Konikov of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Community Center of the Space & Treasure Coasts. Konikov ensured that the historic facility’s kitchen was kosher for the visiting dignitaries.

Konikov helped arrange details for Abutbul’s visit, which came on the heels of stops in other sister cities of Beit Shemesh, such as Ramapo, N.Y., and Hangzhou, China.

After Abutbul addressed Jewish community leaders and local government officials in Cocoa, Fla., and its environs, he and Konikov took a tour of NASA operations in nearby Cape Kennedy.

The delegation held a special memorial ceremony for fallen Israeli fighter pilot Asaf Ramon in front of the space memorial bearing the name of his father, Col. Ilan Ramon, who perished during the breakup of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

The NASA tour featured a glimpse of the new Ares I rocket, which is slated to replace the Space Shuttle program.

An Ares vehicle sits on Launch Pad 39B in preparation for a scheduled Oct. 27 test flight.