The online search giant Google paid homage to the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon on the occasion of his 60th birthday by featuring a cartoon image of him on its Israeli homepage.

Ramon, the first Israeli to travel to outer space, perished together with his fellow crew members in 2003 after an accident on the Columbia space ship.

The late astronaut, who would have turned 60 on June 20, is seen sat with his diary, near a window that offers a view into the outer space.

Ramon became an astronaut following a long career as a fighter pilot for the Israeli Defense Forces. In 2003 he became the first – and to this day, the only – Israeli to travel into space when he joined seven other astronauts aboard the Columbia space shuttle, which launched from the Kennedy center in Florida.

16 days later, it exploded minutes before landing.

As he embarked on the mission that would turn out to be his last, he stated that being the first Israeli in space makes him the "representative of all Jews and Israelis."

"I am the son of a Holocaust survivor, and I carry the suffering of the Holocaust. And I'm kind of a proof that despite all the horror they went through, we're going forward."

Having been posthumously awarded the US Congressional Space Medal of Honor, Ramon remains the only non-American to get the prestigious honor.