PBS to Air "Mission of Hope" About the Torah Aboard Columbia's Last Flight

PBS will air “Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope” beginning January 31.  The program tells the story of the Torah brought along on Columbia’s last mission by crewmember Ilan Ramon of the Israeli Air Force.

This week NASA is observing a period of remembrance for the crews who lost their lives in spaceflight-related accidents:  Apollo 1 (1967), space shuttle Challenger (1986) and space shuttle Columbia (2003).  Ramon was aboard Columbia when it disintegrated during its return from space 10 years ago Friday.

The film details why a “small Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust was entrusted to Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon as he lifted into space on Columbia’s ultimately ill-fated flight.” 

The PBS website says the program will air January 31 from 9:00-10:00 pm and February 2 from 10:00-11:00 pm, but it will air on other dates in various locations around the country.  The film was originally called “An Article of Hope” and the website anarticleofhope.com describes the story behind the Torah and making of the film.  It has a list of when the program will air by geographic area and PBS station.  In the Washington D.C. area, for example, the first showing is not until February 5 at 9:00 pm on Maryland Public Television.