Israelis numbed by pointless death of national hero

ISRAELIS yesterday mourned the death of their country’s first astronaut on the space shuttle Columbia with a weary sense of familiarity with dashed dreams.

"Newspapers are writing this morning about how we can't even manage to get a break in space," said the host of an Israel Radio talk show.

Flags flew at half-mast and radio stations played sombre music as a nation remembered Air Force Colonel Ilan Ramon, 48, killed along with six American astronauts when NASA's oldest shuttle disintegrated on reentry on Saturday.