Beresheet April 11 Lunar Landing Attempt Fails

Israeli lunar lander, Beresheet

An artistic rendering of the Beresheet lander on the Moon. Credit: SpaceIL.

On April 11, 2019, an Israeli nonprofit organization called SpaceIL attempted to land the first privately funded lander on the surface of the Moon. Launched on February 22, 2019, onboard a used SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher along with a U.S. Air Force satellite and an Indonesian communications satellite, the craft took more than a month to reach its target in order to save on fuel mass during launch. It achieved orbit around the Moon on April 11. The planned landing site was in the north part of the Mare Serenitatis. In spite of the disappointing crash landing, the SpaceIL team remains committed to their goal of successfully landing an Israeli spacecraft on the Moon. Below are tweets they sent out after the landing attempt:

SpaceIL logo Israel To The Moon @TeamSpaceIL
Apr 11
Don’t stop believing! We came close but unfortunately didn’t succeed with the landing process. More updates to follow.

SpaceIL logo Israel To The Moon @TeamSpaceIL
Apr 12
About last night: we didn’t complete a soft landing but got to the Moon. This is an incredible achievement — only 7 nations have ever entered its orbit. #Beresheet was the 1st private spacecraft to make this journey, which will forever change space travel. #IsraelToTheMoon #spaceil

SpaceIL logo Israel To The Moon @TeamSpaceIL
Apr 12
Our engineers think that a technical glitch in one of the components caused the main engine to shut down — making it impossible to slow the spacecraft’s descent. By the time the engine was restarted its velocity was too high to land properly. #Beresheet #SpaceIL #IsraelToTheMoon

SpaceIL logo Israel To The Moon @TeamSpaceIL
Apr 12
Preliminary technical information collected by the teams shows that the first technical issue occurred at 14 km above the Moon. At 150 meters when the connection with #Beresheet was lost, it was moving at 500 km/h, making a collision inevitable. #IsraelToTheMoon #SpaceIL

SpaceIL logo Israel To The Moon @TeamSpaceIL
Apr 15
We’re currently working on #Beresheet2 to make this dream come true. #IsraelToTheMoon #SpaceIL