Israel successfully launched its first moon mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 missile from Cape Canaveral in Florida early this morning.
Israel hopes to become the fourth country in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon, with the launch of the unmanned spacecraft Beresheet, which is scheduled to land on the moon on 11th April.
After successfully disengaging from the launch missile, the spacecraft went into orbit around the Earth at a velocity of 36,000 km per hour.
If successful, the 160-kilogram, four-legged spacecraft, about the size of a car, will also be the smallest and cheapest spacecraft to land on the moon.
The mission aims to measure the moon’s magnetic field, and once on the moon, Beresheet–Genesis will take a selfie of itself and of the Israeli flag from the lunar surface.
The spacecraft’s Leros engine is UK-sourced, developed by Nammo in Wescott, Buckinghamshire.
The $100 million (NIS 370 million) spacecraft is a joint venture between private companies SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, funded almost entirely from private donations from well-known Jewish philanthropists.
The president of SpaceIL, Morris Kahn said: “We have been on this journey for eight years and it will be completed in two months, with the landing on the moon. We are making history and we are proud to be part of a group that has dreamed and realised the dream that many countries have had but only three have fulfilled”.
