First private Israel lunar mission to be launched this week
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Israeli nonprofit says it'll launch what it hopes will be the first private spacecraft to land on the moon this week.
SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries told reporters on Monday that the landing craft, dubbed Beresheet, or Genesis, will ship from Florida, where, propelled by a SpaceX Falcon rocket launch, it will commence its months-long voyage to the moon.
The launch is due late Thursday in U.S., early Friday in Israel. It had been originally slated for last December.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The small craft, roughly the size of a washing machine, will have to make several orbits before landing.
Israel's space program chief Avi Blasberger says he hopes it will create a "Beresheet effect" in Israel, akin to the Apollo effect, to promote science for a new generation of Israelis.