Columbia disaster astronaut's diary found

Pieces of an Israeli astronaut’s diary, which plunged to earth with the stricken Columbia space shuttle, have been found in a field, it emerged today.

The pages of Ilan Ramon’s journal were found by a native American searching fields in Texas shortly after the crash in February last year.

Initially, it was not known what the pieces of paper were. But when they were shown to Ramon’s wife she confirmed it as his Hebrew handwriting.

Many of the pages had been bleached as they tumbled into the atmosphere at super-heated temperatures.

But Israeli forensic scientists, helped by museum manuscript experts, were able to reconstruct the words.

The journal, titled “A Diary, Ilan Ramon, Astronaut” covers the first six days of the 10-day mission.

He writes in one excerpt: “No, no, I never believed it. Until the ignition of the engine, I still doubted…”

Passages from the Israeli fighter pilot’s diary will appear in a documentary being broadcast in Israel to coincide with the February 1 anniversary of the shuttle disaster.

Documentary director Naftali Gliksberg told the New York Post: “He wrote about his sentiments about his family, his wife and their four children.

“He mentioned each of them. He wanted to record how he felt about them in space.”

As well as the journal, Ramon had written a Sabbath prayer so he could recite it properly during the mission.

Seven astronauts perished in the Columbia tragedy over Texas. They were Ilan Ramon, 48, Rick Husband, 45, William McCool, 41, Michael Anderson, 43, David Brown, 46, Kalpana Chawla, 41, and Laurel Clark, 41.

It is believed that debris punctured the left wing, allowing super-heated air inside it during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

The disaster was a major blow to the US space programme and the fleet has been grounded since.

Last week President George Bush announced plans to retire the fleet by 2010, replacing it with new craft capable of exploring further into space.