Israel’s Beresheet spaceship CRASHES on Moon

After eight years of development, Beresheet – which means Genesis in Hebrew – was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Friday, January 22 on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket Falcon 9.

Had the mission been successful, the 160-kilogram unmanned four-legged spacecraft would have been the smallest and cheapest spacecraft ever to land on the moon, with Israel becoming only the fourth nation to do so, after the United States, the Soviet Union and China.

Its Mission Control room was at Israel Aerospace Industries in Yehud, Israel.

Scientists had hoped to land its magnetometer, digital time capsule, and laser retroreflector on the Moon – as well as a bible.