An Abrupt End to a Historic Moon Mission
Beresheet, a lander made by an Israeli nonprofit, was just miles from the lunar surface when it malfunctioned.
Updated at 1:18 p.m. ET on April 12, 2019.
The malfunction happened just a few miles from the surface.
The spacecraft had spent days orbiting the moon and, before that, about a month and a half traveling the 4 million miles from Earth. Back home, its creators sat tense in a control room as they waited for the spacecraft—the product of years of effort and engineering—to land on the terrain.
“We’ve passed the point of no return,” said Opher Doron, who leads the space division at Israel Aerospace Industries, the country’s aerospace manufacturer, as the spacecraft pushed itself out of orbit on Thursday. “We’re in the landing process.”
The descent seemed to be.“We are resetting the spacecraft to try to enable the engine.”
