Israel Is the First Country To Launch A Private Moon Mission

From the start of the space programme in the 1950s, only three countries had managed to reach the Moon. The U.S., Russia, and China are the sole technologically advanced superpowers that have successfully pulled the feat. But if all goes according to plan, in just a few short months, Israel will be the fourth to make history.

But the fact that a tiny country in the Middle East managed to launch a Moon lander isn’t the most exciting part about this mission. Rather, for the first time in history, a privately developed Moon lander was launched using a private launch vehicle, and more so, reaches space by mean of a private launch site. This mission also marks the development of private spaceflight, aside from creating a scientific milestone for Israel.

The lander, called ‘Beresheet’, Hebrew for Genesis, is planned to touch down on the surface of the Moon on April 11th. If everything goes according to plan, it will be the first private Moon mission in the history of mankind.

In 2010, Beresheet was the development’s team entry to Google’s Lunar Xprize competition. The company promised any private groups a grand prize of $30 million for a realistic Moon landing. Though the company found no winner and was shut off last year, the interest it generated for Beresheet managed to keep it going.

Fortunately, SpaceIL and Israel Space Industries picked up the project and continued its development until launch date.

Beresheet was packed for the road with a camera, a magnetometer, and a time capsule to be left on the Moon.

Aside from the U.S., China, and Russia - soon to also be Israel - India is planning big to reach the Moon to become the fifth on the Moon. Beresheet will be the lightest spacecraft to ever reach the Moon and hopefully land on it. Furthermore, it is also the cheapest, at just about $100 million.

The lander was launched on top of a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1:45 A.M. on Feb 21.

As a bonus note, the rocket booster also managed to land back on a drone ship off the coast of Florida in choppy weather.