Ilan Ramon was scheduled to return to earth after 15 days in space as Israel's first astronaut at the beginning of 2003, and Channel 2 prepared a special broadcast to commemorate Space Shuttle Columbia's arrival; Ramon's father was invited to the studio. The shuttle exploded while reentering the atmosphere, and Ramon's father received news of the tragedy in the studio. Arad Nir, who reported live from Texas, said in 2009 that it was the hardest broadcast of his career.