“Personally I’m not really a religious person,” she said, “but I think that my Jewish cultural background is obviously a big part of my culture and especially traditions.”
Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel, responded to the news of Ms Meir’s decision to include an Israeli flag in her luggage by thanking her “for taking us with you on your journey to outer space”, and telling her that “we are so proud of you!”
Ms Meir’s father was born in Iraq to a Jewish family which emigrated to the what was then known as British Mandate Palestine, prior to 1948.
After fighting in Israel’s war of independence, he studied to become a doctor, before moving to Sweden and marrying Ms Meir’s mother.
The astronaut said she had wanted to go into space since the age of five, and had tried to enrol in NASA’s space shuttle programme a number of times before being accepted in 2013.
She will become the fourth Jewish woman and fifteenth Jewish person to go into space.
