Tag: Israel
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Live coverage: Israel’s Beresheet lander lost during descent to the moon
Live coverage of the final descent and landing of the privately-funded Israeli Beresheet spacecraft on the moon. Text updates will appear automatically below. SpaceIL’s live video webcast of Beresheet’s landing on the moon begins at 1845 GMT (2:45 p.m. EDT) Thursday.
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Privately-funded Israeli probe set for daring moon landing attempt
An Israeli-built spacecraft financed through donations from billionaire philanthropists is set to make history Thursday when it tries to become the first privately-funded probe to land on the moon. If successful, the landing will make Israel the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and the first non-superpower to achieve the…
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Israel’s Beresheet lander brakes into lunar orbit
The Beresheet spacecraft’s six-minute deceleration burn Thursday steered the probe into orbit around the moon. Credit: SpaceIL Six weeks after launching from Cape Canaveral, an Israeli-built probe funded through private donations arrived in orbit around the moon Thursday, setting the stage for the mission’s final descent to the lunar surface April 11. Engineers at the…
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Israel’s Beresheet lander heads for make-or-break lunar capture maneuver
Artist’s illustration of the Beresheet lander in orbit round the moon. Credit: SpaceIL An Israeli spacecraft has one shot Thursday to swing into orbit around the moon with a six-minute engine firing, a critical maneuver that will set up for the privately-funded probe’s historic landing attempt April 11. The hydrazine-fueled main engine mounted to the…
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Beresheet lander on course for the moon
A camera on-board the Beresheet lander captured this view of Earth from a distance of more than 23,000 miles (37,000 kilometers). Credit: SpaceIL The privately-funded Israeli Bersesheet lander is on course to enter orbit around the moon April 4 after another boost from its main engine Tuesday. A 60-second firing by Beresheet’s 100-pound-thrust main engine…
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Israeli lunar lander looks back at Earth
An image captured by the Beresheet lunar lander shows a plaque with the Israeli flag in the foreground, and Earth in the background. (Beresheet / SpaceIL Photo) An Israeli lunar lander gets photobombed by Earth in a selfie released today by SpaceIL’s Beresheet mission team. The selfie was captured from a distance of more than…
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Computer reset cancels orbit-raising burn on Israel’s moon lander
Artist’s illustration of the Beresheet lander’s elliptical transfer orbit around Earth. Credit: SpaceIL A computer reset on the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander forced has the postponement of the mission’s first engine firing to begin maneuvering closer to the moon, officials said Tuesday. Mission managers said the robotic lander — seeking to become the first privately-funded…
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‘Big step for Israel’: SpaceX launches lunar lander along with high-flying satellites
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches Indonesia’s Nusantara Satu telecommunications satellite as well as the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander and an Air Force research satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sent the Israeli-made Beresheet lunar lander on the first leg of its journey to the…
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Photos: Beresheet lander tested for historic moon mission
The Beresheet moon lander will attempt to become the first privately-funded spacecraft to reach the moon, and these photos show the robotic probe’s journey through testing inside a clean room at Israel Aerospace Industries, followed by its attachment to a multi-satellite stack for launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. Beresheet, which means “genesis” or “in…
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To the moon? Israel’s SpaceIL says SpaceX will launch team’s lunar lander this year
News Brief: SpaceIL, an Israeli team that was once a competitor in the now-defunct Google Lunar X Prize, says it will have its lander launched toward the moon in December. The lander will be a secondary payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket taking off from Florida, the team said today in a news release. The plan…