Israeli non-profit organization SpaceIL decides to give up on the journey to the Moon for its second Beresheet mission.
SpaceIL’s spacecraft, Beresheet, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on February 22, 2019, and took weeks to reach the Moon. The first privately funded mission to the Moon, however, was unsuccessful, as the spacecraft crashed during the landing attempt.
Immediately after, the organization received support to continue its efforts to land on the moon. For instance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was watching the unsuccessful landing, reportedly reacted by saying: “If at first, you don’t succeed, you try again”. Moreover, the X Prize Foundation announced that they would give $1 million Moonshot award for SpaceIL, so its second spacecraft could land successfully.
XPRIZE to award $1 Million Moonshot Award to SpaceIL team for them to continue their work and pursue Beresheet 2.0. Space is hard!!! @xprize @TeamSpaceIL pic.twitter.com/J4Zo5eaYMT
— Peter H. Diamandis (@PeterDiamandis) 11. April 2019
The dream goes on! Morris Kahn just announced the launching of Beresheet 2.0 #Beresheet2.0 #IsraeltotheMoon pic.twitter.com/fHlo3jeQ4W
— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) 13. April 2019
A different explanation came out from its official Twitter account on June 25, 2019. The organization declared that there won’t be the second attempt to land on the Moon and they are looking for another destination instead.
This time, we will not go to the moon. Beresheet’s journey to the Moon was already received as a successful, record-breaking journey. Instead we will seek out another, significant objective for Beresheet 2.0. More details to follow… pic.twitter.com/W8absyxT1Y
— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) 25. Juni 2019
The reason behind changing the destination is still a question.
