Beresheet Lander of Israel crushes on the moon

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image of the lunar surface in the background, spaceship in the foreground

Beresheet returned a selfie during the descent, 13 miles above the lunar surface, just before his engine problems began. (Credit: SpaceIL)

Israel's Beresheet spacecraft, which was to land on the moon today, suffered a motor and communication failure, which caused it to crush on the lunar surface. The details are still emerging on what exactly went wrong.

In the last five minutes or so of the landing procedure, mission officials reported that they temporarily lost telemetry data before retrieving it again. Shortly after, the main engine stopped, but the engineers were able to restart it. They then reported a communication problem followed by a few minutes of strained waiting. Finally, they announced the loss of the spacecraft, which led the mission to an unwanted end.

Retry

The control room nevertheless applauded, recognizing the tremendous feat accomplished. With Beresheet's flight, Israel became the seventh country to orbit the moon and, technically, the fourth to land on its surface, but not in the expected manner.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, was present in the control room of the event. He told those present, "If you fail at the beginning, try again."

Even though Beresheet went on the moon after the 2018 deadline for Google's Lunar XPRIZE, which promised $ 20 million to the first company that would offer a soft solution on the moon and perform a series of small tasks, XPRIZE has offered a million dollars Moonshot Award if Beresheet can achieve a smooth landing alone.

However, after today's forced landing, XPRIZE announced that it would continue to award the $ 1 million prize.

This story continues to evolve and we will continue to update this article with more information as it becomes available.

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