10111L

Founded in 1897

ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA

Space Partners

NASA and Israel Space Agency sign civil
space cooperation agreement.

MICHIGAN REGION

81st Annual
Balfour Celebration

Sunday, November 8, 2015 I 6:00 P.M.
Adat Shalom Synagogue

Honoring

Sandy and Lucinda
Rosen

Justice Louis Brandeis Award

Honoring

Barbara Goodman

Israel Lifetime Achievement Award

and

Cheryl! Israel

Israel Lifetime Achievement Award

Times of Israel

N

ASA and the Israel Space Agency
signed an agreement late last
week to expand cooperation in
civil space activities, the Israeli government
said.
The deal was signed by NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden and ISA
Director Menachem Kidron on the sidelines
of the International Astronautical Congress
in Jerusalem.
Bolden said the agreement would enable
the U.S. space agency to tap Israeli innova-
tion and technology in cooperation
"Our two countries have had a long his-
tory of cooperation in space exploration,
scientific discovery and research, and we
look forward to the opportunities this new
agreement provides us to build upon this
partnership," he said in a statement.
The Israel Space Agency expressed hope
that the Jewish state's technology would play
a key role in future missions to Mars.
The agreement will enable NASA and
the ISA to conduct joint missions, exchange
personnel and scientific data and share
facilities, the joint statement said.
The choice of Jerusalem as the host city
for the annual International Astronautical
Congress is considered a sign of Israel's
growing influence in the field of space
exploration and technology.
The five-day program hosted more than
2,000 international visitors hailing from 58

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and

ISA Director Menachem Kidron sign the

agreement at the 66th Annual International

Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem.

countries. In addition to Bolden and other
senior NASA officials, famed moon walker
Buzz Aldrin attended the conference, part-
nering with the Israel Space Agency and the
Science Ministry to encourage interest in
space education by Israeli youth.
NASA first signed a cooperation agree-
ment with Israel in 1996. That agreement
paved the way for the training of the
first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, at the
Johnson Space Center. Ramon trained for
five years starting in 1998 in preparation for
his mission on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
The ill-fated flight — it tragically explod-
ed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmo-
sphere on Feb. 1, 2003, and all on board
were killed — was Israel's most famous
foray into space. *

SpacelL Secures A Ticket To The Moon

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2042400

36 October 22 • 2015

SpacelL, a nonprofit organization working
to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the
moon, is the first (and so far only) Google
Lunar XPRIZE team to secure a "ticket to
the moon"on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Launcher.
"Only three countries have 'soft-landed'
a rover on the surface of the moon: the
United States, the former Soviet Union
and China. Now the notion of the small
State of Israel being added to this exclusive
list looks more promising than ever said
SpacelL CEO Eran Privman.
This means that as of now, SpacelL is the
leader in the international race to land an
unmanned spacecraft on the moon and
is the group with the best chances of win-
ning the competition.
It should be noted that 33 private com-
panies from around the world applied, but
only 15 were picked to compete.
At a press conference held last week at
the President's Residence in Jerusalem,
President Reuven Rivlin and Science
Minister Ophir Akunis announced that

An artist's rendering of the SpacelL

lunar spacecraft

the Israeli team has been picked to join
SpaceX, run and owned by founder Elon
Musk, on its rocket launch scheduled for
the second half of 2017.
SpacelL recently signed a $10 million
launch agreement that was made possible
by contributions from two major donors:
the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson
Family Foundation and Morris Kahn's Kahn
Foundation. *