10 New Sheqalim Independence - Israel's Space Program

Israel's space program was still absorbing the loss of Ilan Ramon when this coin was struck. Ramon, the country's first astronaut, died aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003 — just weeks before this issue's release date. The Bank of Israel's Independence Day series routinely commemorates national achievements, but this particular entry landed in a year when the subject had become a matter of grief as much as pride.

Ramon had carried a miniature Torah scroll aboard Columbia, one that had survived Auschwitz.