Israeli Spacecraft Fails to Make First Private Lunar Landing
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israeli-spacecraft-fails-to-make-first-private-lunar-landing/
Beresheet, a modest Israeli spacecraft with the audacious aim of making a soft landing on the moon, came close but ultimately failed in its goal on Thursday. The probe crashed on the lunar surface after engine and communication troubles arose shortly before its planned touchdown. The vehicle, engineered by an Israeli nonprofit organization called SpaceIL, would have been the first private spacecraft to make a lunar landing—and would have made Israel only the fourth country to do so, after the U.S., the former Soviet Union and China.
“Well, we didn’t make it, but we definitely tried,” said SpaceIL president Morris Kahn during a live broadcast of the landing attempt. “I think the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous. I think we can be proud.”