Two months following the Columbia disaster, the remains of a tattered book were found as part of the attempt to recover the fragments of the destroyed space shuttle. Miraculously, the book turned out to be the flight diary of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, and in it he had recorded the thoughts and emotions of his journey into space. The diary was sent to the Israeli police, who cooperated with the Israel Museum to reconstruct as much as possible of the badly singed text. As the contents of the diary are movingly revealed in the documentary, the film simultaneously examines the fateful narrative of the doomed mission. Employing expert testimony, interviews with Ramon's widow and internal NASA communications, Columbia: The Tragic Loss questions what could and should have been done to prevent the break-up of the spacecraft during re-entry.

Co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel