<story><title>A private spacecraft from Israel will attempt a moon landing Thursday</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/a-private-spacecraft-from-israel-will-attempt-a-moon-landing-thursday/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>JshWright</author><text>I took my daughter to this launch (we happened to be vacationing in the area). It was an evening launch and we spent the day at KSC. On the bus tour around the launch pads we happened to sit right behind a couple members of the SpaceIL team (including the chief systems engineer). They were extremely friendly and happy to answer all sorts of questions.&lt;p&gt;Best of luck to the team on this exciting day!</text></comment>
<story><title>A private spacecraft from Israel will attempt a moon landing Thursday</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/a-private-spacecraft-from-israel-will-attempt-a-moon-landing-thursday/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Faaak</author><text>Citing wikipedia because it&amp;#x27;s not on the article:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;In October 2015, SpaceIL signed a contract for a launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, via Spaceflight Industries.[15][40] It was launched on 22 February 2019 at 0145 UTC (20:45 local time on 21 February) as a secondary payload,[4][6][23] along with the telecom satellite PSN-6.[41] Beresheet is being controlled by a command center in Yehud, Israel.[42]&lt;p&gt;From 24 February to 19 March, the main engine was used four times for orbit raising, putting its apogee close to the Moon&amp;#x27;s orbital distance.[43] The spacecraft performed maneuvers so as to be successfully captured into an elliptical lunar orbit on 4 April 2019, and has adjusted its flight pattern in a circular orbit around the Moon. Once in the correct circular orbit, it will decelerate for a soft landing on the lunar surface, planned for 11 April 2019.[44] &amp;quot;</text></comment>