The Smallest Lunar Lander by Weight and it Traveled the Longest Distance Out of Any Moon Lander on its Way to the Lunar Surface
It's no secret that space exploration has come a long way since the early days of the US and Soviet space programs. While we've made tremendous progress in recent years, there have been many failures along the way. The Israeli not-for-profit space company IL, formed in 2011 in response to Google's Lunar XPrize competition, is one such example. The competition challenged private companies to build a robotic spacecraft to go to the moon and send back images and videos from its surface. Although the competition was ultimately cancelled, the folks at IL were undeterred, and their work eventually led to Bereshit.
Bereshit Ticked Off Many Firsts
Bereshit was no ordinary mission. It ticked off many firsts, including being the first privately funded moon lander to successfully enter lunar orbit. The mission launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 2nd, 2019, and gradually slingshot in closer and closer to the moon before entering the moon's orbit at the start of April. However, despite its many successes, Bereshit missed one important milestone – landing on the moon.
A Bittersweet Moment
The main engine cut out, and Mission Control lost communication with Bereshit just as it was about to land on the surface. The Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu watched anxiously as the team waited with bated breath for news from their spacecraft. Before communication was lost, the crew had captured a heart-wrenching selfie of themselves strapped into their lunar lander, a poignant reminder of what could have been.
The Achievement of Getting to Where They Got
Although Bereshit did not reach its final destination, the achievement of getting as far as it did is truly tremendous. Israeli entrepreneur Morris Cohen put it best when he said, "Well, damned if you can't commend their spirit. I think we can be proud." The team's perseverance and determination in the face of adversity are a testament to their hard work and dedication.
The Real Moon: A Journey Beyond National Pride
While national pride is certainly an important aspect of space exploration, it's not the only reason countries participate. Launching a space program also provides opportunities for technological advancement and scientific discovery. The moon remains a vast, uncharted territory that holds many secrets waiting to be uncovered. Every mission pushes us further into new realms of scientific discovery.
India, Europe, and Canada: Unlikely Challengers
Beyond the United States, Russia, and China, other countries have played significant roles in the lunar exploration race. Japan sent its first orbiter mission in 1970 (not 1919), although it's likely a typo or misremembering of an event that is actually the US's Mariner 2 which became the first to fly by Venus in 1962. The European Space Agency has also orbited the moon, and India sent its own orbiters as well as a moon impact probe to study the presence of ice and water on the lunar surface.
The Moon Club: Diverse Representation Beyond America, Russia, and China
While only 12 people have ever walked on the moon's surface, there is no shortage of diversity among those who've ventured into space. The Moon Club has kind of been our Destiny's Child situation – many countries have orbited the moon, but few have made it to its surface. Japan, India, and European Space Agency members are notable examples beyond America and Russia.
National Pride Meets Innovation
So why bother with a lunar landing if there aren't any special jackets involved? There are several reasons beyond national pride that drive countries to launch their own space programs. One is the development of new technologies and innovation. Another is the scientific discovery that still abounds on the moon, waiting for us to explore. If we're not careful, we might miss out on valuable information by focusing too much on the destination rather than the journey.
Bereshit 2.0: A New Chance for Israel
Less than a week after Bereshit's disappointing landing attempt, IL announced that they would be attempting another mission with Bereshit 2.0. Let's hope this is just the beginning of many successful lunar missions from Israeli space company IL and Indian astronauts walking on the surface of the moon or Australian missions to the Moon.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entonight after years of development and almost two months hurtling through space israel's Bereshit moon lander has come painfully close to landing on the moon before crashing out so what went wrong why did Israel want to go to the moon in the first place and fifty years after Apollo why there's still only a handful of countries who've joined the moon landing Club that's got to be the ultimate and sorry you can't sit with us I'm Claire Riley for CNN welcome to watch this space from the Senate Studios in Sydney this is your guide to everything on earth you need to know about space and tonight half a century after the original space race Israel has just missed out on joining the moon Club damn and I heard those guys have really sweet jackets if you've got your space education from Hollywood then you might be surprised to know that space isn't purely the domain of patriotic Americans and the occasional sexy British man remarkably aren't affected by microgravity in fact if you play in the NBA you might be surprised to learn that humans have been to space in the first place ah moon-landing deniers thanks for tuning in I look forward to reading your comments no it's not just America getting off this planet space has become a veritable United Nations of countries blasting off to explore the great beyond Japan has its Hayabusa asteroid lander Europe has its ExoMars mission and Canada has renowned astronaut and three-time cover model of moustache Magic magazine Chris Hadfield but when it comes to spacecraft landing on the moon only three countries have ever successfully completed soft landings and only the US has sent astronauts onto the surface the Soviet Union came first with a soft landing of the unmanned lunar 9 in 1966 then the u.s. send the unmanned surveillance just a few months later then the two countries spend the next five decades shooting stuff up there like it was discount night at the hillbilly fireworks store in 2013 China became only the third country to successfully land on the moon other nations have made it to the surface of the Moon but these have been more of an intentionally crashed kind of way rather than taking the approach of let's peacefully touchdown and send out a cute little robot well why should a few countries get all the fun sure there's plenty of Moonpie to go around and to Israel and the Bereshit moon lander named after the Hebrew word for Genesis no doubt in a nod to Israel's huge Phil Collins fanbase Bereshit was the first privately funded mission to launch to the moon it was the smallest Lander by weight and it traveled the longest distance out of any moon lander on its way to the lunar surface it was the baby of Israeli not-for-profit space IL a space company formed in 2011 in response to Google's Lunar XPrize competition the competition challenged private companies to build a robotic spacecraft to go to the moon and send back images and videos from its surface the competition was ultimately cancelled but the folks at space al we're all guys we've got a half-finished moon robot over here we're not stopping and their work eventually led to Bereshit but while Bereshit ticked off a lot of firsts including being the first privately funded moon lander to successfully enter lunar orbit it missed a really important achievement no I'm not talking about best mission logo that honor clearly goes to the University of Kansas Medical Center and their experiment that tested the motility of bull sperm in space yes that patch is both real and ridiculous anyway Bereshit missed one important milestone on its mission to land on the moon mainly the landing part after launching on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 2nd 2019 Bereshit entered an elliptical orbit around Earth gradually slingshot in closer and closer to the moon before entering the moon's orbit at the start of April but on landing day while Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu watched on and the entire space al team waited with bated breath the main engine cut out and Mission Control lost communication but not before capturing this incredibly bittersweet selfie on its way down to the surface the heartbreak back on the ground was palpable Bob damned if you can't commend their spirit Morris Cohen and Israeli entrepreneur who provided a large part of bearish its financial backing probably put it best well we didn't make it but we definitely tried and I think that the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous I think we can be proud is right the real moon was the friends they made along the way because while images of lunar landings are pretty much baked into our bones they're really really difficult in the early days of space exploration the US and Soviet space programs were peppered with failures launch failures spacecraft failures loss of contact and spectacular crash landings things have gone more smoothly in recent years but only 12 people have ever walked on the moon surface all of the male astronauts from America hashtag diversity since the last manned mission to the lunar surface in 1972 the Moon Club has kind of been our Destiny's Child situation many countries have been on the outer but there's only really three core members that you care about beyond the United States Russia and China but let's not discount the other countries who provided backing vocals in the race to the moon Japan sent its first orbiter mission in 1919 the european space agency has also orbited the moon and the indian space research organization has sent its own orbiters and even a moon impact probe to crash into the surface and stir up debris to be analyzed for the presence of ice and water so if all these countries can't be the first to land on the moon or be the first to send astronauts there why bother at all apart from the sweet jackets they'd get obviously well there's a few reasons firstly there's a national pride to consider but beyond that when a country launches the space program it's also a great chance to develop new technologies and advance innovation and it's not like the moon is done offering up new information there's still so much we don't know and every mission pushes us further into new realms of scientific discovery space Al and Bereshit were hoping to prove that you didn't need to be America or Russia to get a mission into space and they're not done the first Bereshit mission might have failed in the final moments but less than a week after this heartbreak space al announced it would be having another crack with Bereshit 2.0 and let's hope that this is just the beginning I want to see Israel stick a lunar landing I want to see Indian astronauts walk on the surface of the Moon and so help me I want a bloody Australian mission to the moon or as we like to call it down under old mate night alright that's it for this week's edition I've watched this space if you've enjoyed our program then be sure to click the like button on your remote and subscribe to get more space news as it happens I'm Claire Riley for CNET goodnight and Godspeed what do you mean they don't have jackets I heard that they all good and three-time winner of Manitoba mustache Chris had fit he's from Ottawa I had him as a Manitoba boy how many takes is this does anyone from the NBA watch this show I would think that they want it wanna know about space mmm raker the man who must rake them and only two members of the Moon Club have special ringstonight after years of development and almost two months hurtling through space israel's Bereshit moon lander has come painfully close to landing on the moon before crashing out so what went wrong why did Israel want to go to the moon in the first place and fifty years after Apollo why there's still only a handful of countries who've joined the moon landing Club that's got to be the ultimate and sorry you can't sit with us I'm Claire Riley for CNN welcome to watch this space from the Senate Studios in Sydney this is your guide to everything on earth you need to know about space and tonight half a century after the original space race Israel has just missed out on joining the moon Club damn and I heard those guys have really sweet jackets if you've got your space education from Hollywood then you might be surprised to know that space isn't purely the domain of patriotic Americans and the occasional sexy British man remarkably aren't affected by microgravity in fact if you play in the NBA you might be surprised to learn that humans have been to space in the first place ah moon-landing deniers thanks for tuning in I look forward to reading your comments no it's not just America getting off this planet space has become a veritable United Nations of countries blasting off to explore the great beyond Japan has its Hayabusa asteroid lander Europe has its ExoMars mission and Canada has renowned astronaut and three-time cover model of moustache Magic magazine Chris Hadfield but when it comes to spacecraft landing on the moon only three countries have ever successfully completed soft landings and only the US has sent astronauts onto the surface the Soviet Union came first with a soft landing of the unmanned lunar 9 in 1966 then the u.s. send the unmanned surveillance just a few months later then the two countries spend the next five decades shooting stuff up there like it was discount night at the hillbilly fireworks store in 2013 China became only the third country to successfully land on the moon other nations have made it to the surface of the Moon but these have been more of an intentionally crashed kind of way rather than taking the approach of let's peacefully touchdown and send out a cute little robot well why should a few countries get all the fun sure there's plenty of Moonpie to go around and to Israel and the Bereshit moon lander named after the Hebrew word for Genesis no doubt in a nod to Israel's huge Phil Collins fanbase Bereshit was the first privately funded mission to launch to the moon it was the smallest Lander by weight and it traveled the longest distance out of any moon lander on its way to the lunar surface it was the baby of Israeli not-for-profit space IL a space company formed in 2011 in response to Google's Lunar XPrize competition the competition challenged private companies to build a robotic spacecraft to go to the moon and send back images and videos from its surface the competition was ultimately cancelled but the folks at space al we're all guys we've got a half-finished moon robot over here we're not stopping and their work eventually led to Bereshit but while Bereshit ticked off a lot of firsts including being the first privately funded moon lander to successfully enter lunar orbit it missed a really important achievement no I'm not talking about best mission logo that honor clearly goes to the University of Kansas Medical Center and their experiment that tested the motility of bull sperm in space yes that patch is both real and ridiculous anyway Bereshit missed one important milestone on its mission to land on the moon mainly the landing part after launching on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 2nd 2019 Bereshit entered an elliptical orbit around Earth gradually slingshot in closer and closer to the moon before entering the moon's orbit at the start of April but on landing day while Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu watched on and the entire space al team waited with bated breath the main engine cut out and Mission Control lost communication but not before capturing this incredibly bittersweet selfie on its way down to the surface the heartbreak back on the ground was palpable Bob damned if you can't commend their spirit Morris Cohen and Israeli entrepreneur who provided a large part of bearish its financial backing probably put it best well we didn't make it but we definitely tried and I think that the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous I think we can be proud is right the real moon was the friends they made along the way because while images of lunar landings are pretty much baked into our bones they're really really difficult in the early days of space exploration the US and Soviet space programs were peppered with failures launch failures spacecraft failures loss of contact and spectacular crash landings things have gone more smoothly in recent years but only 12 people have ever walked on the moon surface all of the male astronauts from America hashtag diversity since the last manned mission to the lunar surface in 1972 the Moon Club has kind of been our Destiny's Child situation many countries have been on the outer but there's only really three core members that you care about beyond the United States Russia and China but let's not discount the other countries who provided backing vocals in the race to the moon Japan sent its first orbiter mission in 1919 the european space agency has also orbited the moon and the indian space research organization has sent its own orbiters and even a moon impact probe to crash into the surface and stir up debris to be analyzed for the presence of ice and water so if all these countries can't be the first to land on the moon or be the first to send astronauts there why bother at all apart from the sweet jackets they'd get obviously well there's a few reasons firstly there's a national pride to consider but beyond that when a country launches the space program it's also a great chance to develop new technologies and advance innovation and it's not like the moon is done offering up new information there's still so much we don't know and every mission pushes us further into new realms of scientific discovery space Al and Bereshit were hoping to prove that you didn't need to be America or Russia to get a mission into space and they're not done the first Bereshit mission might have failed in the final moments but less than a week after this heartbreak space al announced it would be having another crack with Bereshit 2.0 and let's hope that this is just the beginning I want to see Israel stick a lunar landing I want to see Indian astronauts walk on the surface of the Moon and so help me I want a bloody Australian mission to the moon or as we like to call it down under old mate night alright that's it for this week's edition I've watched this space if you've enjoyed our program then be sure to click the like button on your remote and subscribe to get more space news as it happens I'm Claire Riley for CNET goodnight and Godspeed what do you mean they don't have jackets I heard that they all good and three-time winner of Manitoba mustache Chris had fit he's from Ottawa I had him as a Manitoba boy how many takes is this does anyone from the NBA watch this show I would think that they want it wanna know about space mmm raker the man who must rake them and only two members of the Moon Club have special rings\n"
