First private spacecraft prepares to land on the moon

The Beresheet spacecraft was jointly produced by the non-governmental organization SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries.

On February 22, 2019, the ship was launched into space by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral launch site, Florida, USA.

After orbiting the Earth and heading into space, on April 4, the spacecraft officially reduced its speed from 8,500 km/h to 7,500 km/h to enter the Moon's orbit and is expected to visit the Moon on April 11.

Israeli spacecraft prepares to land on the surface of the Moon.

This event marked two milestones in the aerospace industry, firstly it was the first time Israel sent a spacecraft to the Moon, secondly it was the first time a private spacecraft did this.

PageDaily Mailreported that all preparations for the historic landing mission have been completed. Over the past two months, Beresheet has traveled a long journey of 5.5 million kilometers to reach the Moon.

"This will be a memorable milestone. Beresheet is expected to send us some photos right away," said Yonatan Winetraub, co-founder of SpaceIL, adding that the event will be broadcast live by many television stations around the world.

However, according to Opher Doron - head of the space department of Israel Aerospace Industries, it is still uncertain what the landing result will be until next Thursday.

"The spacecraft will orbit the Moon in a gradually decreasing orbit and then attempt to land. However, there is still a chance that the spacecraft will explode when landing on the Moon. This is very dangerous, and it is difficult for us to know in advance whether we will succeed or not," Doron said.

One of Israel's slogans is "Small nation, big dreams."

Besides Israel, many countries around the world are currently planning to carry out lunar exploration programs, including India.

In particular, India can send a rover to the Moon and this historic flight is expected to be carried out in 2019.