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The lunar lander Beresheet will attempt to become the first space craft financed by private funds to reach the Moon. These photos show the course of the robotic probe during tests conducted in a clean room at Israel Aerospace Industries, and its attachment to a multi-satellite battery. on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Beresheet, which means "genesis" or "early" in Hebrew, is the result of an almost eight-year effort led by SpaceIL, an Israeli non-profit organization. With the support of billionaire entrepreneurs and donations from Israeli companies such as IAI, the satellite is expected to launch on February 21 in Cape Canaveral.
The landing on the moon is scheduled for April. Read our full story for more details on the mission.
The finished SpaceIL Beresheet lunar lander is described with its solar panels fixed. Credit: SpaceILSpaceIL co-founders Kfir Damari, Yonatan Winetraub and Yariv Bash insert a time capsule on the Beresheet spacecraft. The time capsule includes three disks with digital files that will remain on the moon with the spaceship. The discs contain details about the spacecraft and its crew, as well as national and cultural symbols, such as the Israeli flag, the Israeli national anthem and the Bible. Credit: SpaceILThe Beresheet spacecraft inside the IAI vacuum test chamber. Credit: SpaceILCredit: SpaceILCredit: SpaceILCredit: SpaceILCredit: SpaceILCredit: SpaceILCredit: SpaceILThe Nusantara Satu space shuttle, surmounted by the US Air Force's lunar lander Beresheet and the S5 situational awareness satellite, is photographed before encapsulation in the payload fairing of the Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SSL
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