Israeli Spacecraft Successfully Completes First Maneuver

By NoCamels Team February 24, 2019 < 1 minute

A simulation of the orbit of the spacecraft up to the moon. Courtesy

SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced on Sunday that the lunar lander Beresheet successfully completed its first maneuver around Earth as it is making its journey to the moon.

The 30-second maneuver was made at a distance of 69,400 km from Earth and will increase the spacecrafts’s closest point of approach to Earth to a distance of 600 km, SpaceIL and IAI said in a press statement. The next maneuver is scheduled for Monday night.

Beresheet, whose name in Hebrew means “In the Beginning/Genesis,” was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday, February 22, 2019 at 3:45 am Israel time.

If Beresheet completes its lunar mission on April 11, Israel will join superpowers China, Russia, and the United States in landing a spacecraft on the moon.