Posted on 04/11/2019 1:31:33 PM PDT by Red Badger
Key Points
Non-profit SpaceIL was aiming to become the first private entity to softly land a spacecraft on the moons surface. We have a failure of the spacecraft ... we have not landed successfully, SpaceIL said on the livestream of the landing attempt. At a cost of about $100 million, the Beresheet spacecraft was backed by private donors.
A small lunar lander crashed into the surface of the moon on Thursday, coming just short of the ventures ultimate goal.
Non-profit SpaceIL was aiming to become the first private entity to softly land a spacecraft on the moons surface a feat previously achieved by only three governments in history. SpaceIL confirmed that its robotic Beresheet spacecraft was not successful.
We have a failure of the spacecraft. We unfortunately have not managed to land successfully, Opher Doron, general manger of the Israel Aerospace Industries space program, said on the SpaceILs livestream of the landing attempt.
If at first you dont succeed, try again, Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the crash. He added the prediction that Israel will be successful in two or three years, as an Israeli spacecraft will land on the moon, whole.
Beresheet is the Hebrew word for genesis, literally translating as in the beginning. The spacecraft traveled for about 4 million miles before reaching the moon. The SpaceIL team showed an image of the spacecraft, taken at about 22 kilometers above the lunar surface as Beresheet began its final approach.
We are the seventh country to orbit the moon and the fourth to reach the moons surface, Doron said. Its a tremendous achievement up to now.
The only other countries to reach the lunar surface before Israel are the United States, Russia and China. No private entity has safely landed a spacecraft on the moon.
Messages of condolences and congratulations poured in from around the world, as many still hailed the mission as a success for its ambition and accomplishments along the way.
While NASA regrets the end of the TeamSpaceIL mission without a successful lunar landing, we congratulate SpaceIL, Israel Aerospace Industries and the state of Israel on the accomplishment of sending the first privately funded mission into lunar orbit, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a tweet.
At a cost of about $100 million, the low budget lander was backed by private donors, with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries involved as a partner. SpaceIL president and billionaire entrepreneur Morris Kahn personally donated $40 million of the projects costs. While the missions cost was higher than previously expected, Beresheets mission came at a fraction of previous multi-billion dollar of previous government projects.
The SpaceIL project was initially a competitor in the Google Lunar Xprize but that race ended last March with no winners. Although Google withdrew its $20 million prize, the Xprize Foundation had said it would give SpaceIL a $1 million award for the successful lunar landing. The Xprize founder Peter Diamandis said his organization would still award the SpaceIL team with the $1 million so the team can continue their work and pursue Beresheet 2.0.
SpaceX launched Beresheet as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9 rocket in February. The spacecraft traveled for nearly seven weeks before reaching the moon.
Was probably too heavy, I mean it was covered in gold fer crying out loud
I have no doubts in the power of Beresheet.
Beresheet: Small Country, Big Dreams
"the little country that could..."
It's like people searching and searching for the Messiah, when he's been in the obvious place all along:
A little country, a little Cash:
Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life.
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,
If we keep on the sunny side of life.
Oh, the storm and its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear.
Clouds and storms will in time pass away.
The sun again will shine bright and clear.
Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life.
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life.
All is well on the sunnyside. For some reason that message irks people who are on the wrong side of life.
[ Someone on FARK.com made the comment: Looks like they were taking rocketry lessons from the Palestinians.
Yes, it was a low, crass comment, but I couldnt help but laugh. :P ]
Don’t apologize, good humor has truth in it, but you cannot force your own truth into comedy, which is why SJW comedians are NOT funny.
Dang.
Read the comments section of the article in the Washington Post. There are over 80 comments. Nearly all of them are disgustingly anti semitic. This tells me a lot about the readership of the WaPo.
TANSTAAFL..................
As if we didn’t already know.
They hate Jews and love Islamists..................
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