i24News reports that Israel’s President Isaac Herzog met with astronauts on Monday at the 18th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference, held as part of Israel Space Week 2023 in Tel Aviv.

At the conference, Herzog met with Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe and his team – Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, and Mark Pathy – from the Ax-1 Mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which was the first-ever private mission to the ISS launched in April 2022. The cosmic explorers told the president about the Israeli space experiments they conducted in, about their work together as a crew, and about their personal experiences onboard the ISS. 

“All of this seemingly infinite possibility isn’t only about reaching beyond ourselves to new planets. It is also about using our new capabilities to preserve and protect this fragile and beautiful planet we call home,” Herzog said at the conference. 

Source - i24News/Twitter - Image - Haim Zach/GPO