Jerusalem: Israel’s first spacecraft to the moon was expected to make its historic landing there Thursday and become the only private-sector craft to do so following a mission that has captivated the nation. If it succeeds, Israel would become the fourth country to reach the moon but by far the smallest, with the United States, Russia and China the other three. The landing was planned to occur at around 10:25 pm (1925 GMT).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh off his victory in Tuesday’s general election, was expected to watch from the control room in Yehud, near Tel Aviv. The 585-kilogramme (1,290-pound) Beresheet, which means “Genesis” in Hebrew, is an unmanned spacecraft resembling a tall, oddly shaped table with round fuel tanks under the top. The journey is 384,000 kilometres (239,000 miles), but Beresheet will travel a total of 6.5 million kilometres due to a series of orbits. Its speed has reached 10 kilometres per second, (36,000 kilometres per hour).