But even amid the tragedy involving Ilan Ramon, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed that Israel's space aspirations were not over.

"The day will come when we will launch more Israeli astronauts into space," Sharon said.``I am sure that each and every one of them will carry in his heart the memory of Ilan Ramon, a pioneer in Israeli space travel."

Sharon expressed the sentiment held by Jews around the world when he also extended condolences to the United States and the families of the six NASA crew members.

There are plans to name a street, a square or a building in Beersheba after Ramon, said the city's mayor, Ya'acov Turner.

Memorial books were opened for Ramon in Israeli consulates around the world, said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

After the crash, President Bush phoned Sharon to express condolences over the loss of Ramon, a father of four and a former air force fighter pilot.

"The president said he knows that aboard the shuttle was a brave Israeli, Col. Ilan Ramon, and asked that the Ramon family receive the condolences of the entire American people, his personal condolences, and expressed solidarity with them at this difficult time in their lives," Sharon's office said in a statement.

Other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, also expressed their condolences to Sharon.

Security for the mission had been extremely tight, as officials feared that terrorists might target the shuttle because an Israeli was on board. But officials were quick to rule out the possibility of terrorism in Saturday's tragedy.

Ramon's participation in the 16-day scientific research mission had been a boost for Israel's national morale, which has been battered by two years of Palestinian terrorism and a floundering economy.

"Ilan Ramon took the country to new heights," said former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who was instrumental in arranging Ramon's participation in the flight.

In addition to the significance of the launch for Israel's space program, the participation of Ramon, the child of Holocaust survivors, symbolized the Jewish people's perseverance.

Though secular, Ramon requested kosher meals for the flight and took on board a variety of ritual and symbolic objects.

Among them was a tiny Torah scroll a 13-year-old boy received in Bergen-Belsen from the rabbi of Amsterdam in order to study for his Bar Mitzvah.

The boy, Yehoyahin Yosef, survived the Holocaust, immigrated to Israel and went on to become a professor of planetary physics - and was the person who oversaw the Israeli experiment on board the shuttle to check the impact of dust on climate conditions.