First Israeli astronaut in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, said Wednesday from shuttle Columbia that he wishes his homeland -- in fact, all of the Middle East -- were as quiet and peaceful as it looks from space. "The world looks marvelous from up here, so peaceful, so wonderful and fragile," he said.\nThe 48-year-old Israeli air force colonel is aboard Columbia for a 16-day scientific research mission that ends on Saturday.\nWatching a rose bloom in orbit and a silkworm cocoon blossoming into a moth, crewmate Laurel Clark described the work as "magical." The rose and moth are among more than 80 experiments flying aboard Columbia.\nThe fragrance industry hopes to develop new space scents with the miniature rose plant and a jasmine-scented Asian rice flower growing in the shuttle's greenhouse, while Chinese students want to see how silkworms develop and produce silk in weightlessness.\n"Science-wise, the flight's been absolutely fantastic," said astronaut Michael Anderson.\n"We had a flame ball burning for over 1 1/2 hours, which is just a new world record and just something that we really didn't expect to see. We've also got a very large cancer cell growing back there that's probably 100 times larger than we could have predicted, and it will go a long way in the area of prostate cancer research"