Israel's first astronaut

Houston museum honors Israeli astronaut who died in space shuttle tragedy

Astronaut Ilan Ramon in an orange jumpsuit at NASA

Payload specialist Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli in space.

Photo courtesy of NASA

On February 1, 2003, the world watched in horror as the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry, killing its crew and scattering debris over East Texas. On board was the first Israeli-born astronaut, Ilan Ramon. Now, Holocaust Museum Houston honors his enduring legacy of promoting space travel with a new exhibit that runs through August 3.

“It’s this intimate portrait of a life that possibly wouldn’t have existed because his mother and grandmother survived concentration camps," Trevor Boyd, associate director of collections and exhibitions, said during a sneak preview. "Our mission is all about the Holocaust and the aftermath, about how people have resilience, and what we can do after a terrible tragedy. He always had the sense of how huge being an astronaut was for Israel and Jews all over the world.”

Ramon grew up in Israel, becoming an ace pilot and, in 1997, a payload specialist with NASA for shuttle missions. The next year, he, his wife, and children moved to Houston to prepare for a possible shuttle mission to study asteroids. Eventually, he was selected for Columbia, the first Jewish person and Israeli to leave Earth.

“He really understood what it meant to be the first Jew in space," said Boyd. "He brought items with him, including a mezuzah and a Torah scroll kept in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by Professor Yehoyachin Yosef. Yosef asked Ramon to take it into space with him.”

One of the more amusing displays in the exhibit is a set of kosher space meals. Though Ramon did not keep kosher in his everyday life, he felt it was important to represent the practice while on the mission. He worked with NASA to develop special meals, though like most space food in the early 2000s it was of dubious quality. The meal packets did not survive the disintegration, but the exhibit recreates the boxes including Ramon's handwritten notes on each. A pack of chicken and black beans simply reads "no."

By far, the most moving part of the exhibit is Ramon's diary from the mission. A lifelong diarist, Ramon kept detailed notes of his life right until the end. Some of the pages of his mission log book were recovered from the wreckage. They show Ramon's endless optimism for the power of space travel and his awe at being lucky enough to experience it.

That message of optimism powers the Ramon Foundation, which partnered with the museum to present the exhibit. Founded by Ramon's widow, Rona, it continues to promote space travel education in Israel.

“They told us, 'we don’t want this to be a story of tragedy,'" said Boyd about the Foundation's help crafting the exhibit. "He followed his dream and made it, and anyone can.”

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A Roman Holiday (Season)

All roads lead to Houston museum's blockbuster exhibit of Imperial Rome

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

Houston's holiday season will have a distinctly Roman feeling this year, as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is bringing the glory of the Gladiator era to Texas. On November 2, 2025 through January 25, 2026 the MFAH presents the monumental new exhibition “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times.”

Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and exquisite bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. He was also the first emperor born outside of present-day Italy, in what is now Andalusia, Spain. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

$\u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"$

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

From statues of prominent men and women of the era, including Trajan, to vivid frescoes and furnishing from the villas of Pompeii, the objects in the exhibition will tell fascinating cultural and political stories of life in imperial Rome. To add context to the artworks and objects of antiquity, the MFAH will recreate a section of Trajan’s Column, which was a towering pillar with a spiraling narrative frieze, one of the few monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome.

“Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” brings such a wealth of objects to Houston thanks to unprecedented loans from the renowned antiquities collections of Italian museums including Museo Nazionale Romano, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia, and the Musei Vaticani. It would would likely take months of travel across Italy to see this much art.

“This is truly a rare opportunity for U.S. audiences to experience spectacular objects from this glorious era of the Roman Empire,” said Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, in a statement. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for lending these treasures to us and broadening the appreciation of Italy’s cultural heritage.”

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