He served as a Space Shuttle payload specialist on STS-107, the fatal mission of Columbia, in which he and the six other crew members were killed when the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry.

[2] Born in Ramat Gan, Israel, to Tonya (1929–2003) and Eliezer Wolfferman (1923–2006), a family of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, Ramon grew up in Beersheba.

[6] Ramon was a Colonel (Aluf Mishne) and a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, with thousands of hours of flying experience.

Ramon served in an electronic warfare unit in the Sinai during the Yom Kippur War, and afterwards, returned to the flight academy.

In 1980, as one of the IAF's establishment team of the first F-16 Squadron in Israel, Ramon attended the F-16 Training Course at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

[6] In 1981, Ramon was the youngest pilot taking part in Operation Opera, Israel's strike against Iraq's unfinished Osiraq nuclear reactor.

He was designated to train as prime for a space shuttle mission with a payload that included a multispectral camera for recording desert aerosol (dust).

Personally nonreligious, Ramon performed traditional observance while in orbit: "I feel I am representing all Jews and all Israelis."

[11] Ramon and the rest of the Columbia crew died over East Texas in the Southern United States during entry into Earth's atmosphere, 16 minutes before scheduled landing.

Among the recovered 40% from the contents of the Columbia Space Shuttle that crashed outside Palestine, Texas, were 37 pages of Ramon's diary, which NASA returned to his wife.

[14] Curator Yigal Zalmona[15] said the diary was partially restored in one year, and needed four more, for police scientists to decipher 80% of the text.

[16] Ramon was survived by his wife, Rona, and their four children: Assaf, Tal, Yiftah, and Noa, who were in Florida at the time of the accident.

Rona served as founding CEO of the nonprofit Ramon Foundation for youth academic excellence and social leadership through science and technology.

On November 10, 2013, the American Society for Yad Vashem held a special event with the participation of Ramon's son, Tal, who performed a song he wrote in memory of his father.