Above Us Only Sky tells the personal story of two of Israel’s best sons, Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, and his oldest son Asaf Ramon, who followed in his footsteps and became an F-16 pilot. The book is based on a collection of the diaries and letters they left behind, opening a window to their souls and their unique thoughts. In many ways, their writings are a father-son dialogue between two men who fulfilled their dreams but ended their lives in the skies, under similar circumstances, the father in the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster, and the son in a devastating 2009 training accident.
Following their deaths, Rona Ramon, wife to Ilan and mother to Asaf, realized that she had been entrusted with a wonderful treasure that she wanted to share with others.
Ilan and Asaf left a legacy of profound thought and a drive for excellence and great achievements, along with love for their family, heritage, the land of Israel, and mankind. Rona, who passed away herself in 2018, left a legacy of building and inspiring from out of the ruins.
This book offers a rare opportunity to become acquainted with the heroic stories of two brave, sensitive, and honest men whose lives and deaths answered some of the questions they themselves asked. The fascinating life story of the Ramon family inspires us all to dare to dream.
- Hardcover
- 242 pages
- Personal diary entries of 2 of Israel’s greatest heroes
Above Us Only Sky: The Diaries of Ilan and Asaf Ramon, compiled by Merav Halperin
Merav Halperin was born in Haifa in 1960 and lives in Tel Aviv. A graduate of Tel Aviv University, majoring in history, she has worked as an editor at the Israel Defense Forces radio station, then as editor-in-chief of the Israel Air Force magazine. Today she works as an editor of biographies and other non-fiction. Halperin won the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for Military Literature, for G-Suit, written with Aharon Lapidot (1988). Her novel, My Husband’s Not Home, received the Steimatzky Prize for the best-selling debut novel of the year (2015) and the Publishers Association’s Gold Prize (2016).