Holocaust Remembrance Day - Space

US Department of State
recent  |  interesting  |  random  |  favorites  |  contacts  |  sets  |  tags:  
Holocaust Remembrance Day - Space
Holocaust Remembrance Day - Space

[from the NASA web page]

Astronaut Drew Feustel, while on a six-month expedition on board the International Space Station from March-October 2018, Mission 55/56, brought with him a copy of a special drawing entitled “Moon Landscape”, created by a Jewish Czech boy named Petr Ginz while he was imprisoned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Terezin, Czechoslovakia, during World War II. The drawing depicts how Earth would look from the surface of the moon. Petr was fascinated by science fiction and inspired by his favorite author, Jules Verne, to draw and write stories about a far-off world he would never visit. At the age of 16, Petr perished at Auschwitz in 1942.

A replica of the drawing was first flown to space in 2003 by the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor. Ramon flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. He and his six crew mates lost their lives when the shuttle broke apart during re-entry.

Feustel said, “Ilan Ramon and I worked together for a short period of time prior to 2003. I was touched when I discovered that Ilan planned to take Petr Ginz’s illustration to space, as I have close family and friends in the Czech Republic. I feel honored to commemorate Petr, Ilan and all the victims of the Holocaust in this way.”

Each astronaut gets a small amount of cargo space so they can bring items of personal significance with them for their mission in space. Astronauts frequently bring along pictures of loved ones and other mementos. Feustel included the replica image among his personal items.

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Jerusalem, presented Drew Feustel with the drawing on February 1, 2018, the date that would have been Petr Ginz’s 90th birthday and the 15th anniversary of the Columbia disaster. The museum maintains the original “Moon Landscape” drawing.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, recognized on April 12, is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which those lost in the Holocaust are memorialized. Israel marks this day with ceremonies, and Feustel also recorded a video message that was played at Yad Vashem.

Photo credit: NASA

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISS-55_Drew_Feustel_holds...

www.nasa.gov/feature/astronaut-drew-feustel-honors-holoca...

Taken on: April 8, 2018
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Holocaust Remembrance Holocaust Remembrance Everybody's photos tagged with Drew Feustel Drew Feustel Everybody's photos tagged with Petr Ginz Petr Ginz more » Everybody's photos tagged with Space Space Everybody's photos tagged with NASA NASA Everybody's photos tagged with Ilan Ramon Ilan Ramon Everybody's photos tagged with Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia Everybody's photos tagged with Yad Vashem Yad Vashem « less
Sets appears in:   • Human Rights    • Space   
Camera: Nikon D5, f/16.0, 1/100 sec, 24mm, ISO 400, 400 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D5
Aperture: f/16.0
Exposure Time: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 400, 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Return detected
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Color Space: Unknown (0)
Software: Ver.N.10
Show full info
Stats: 2,778 views