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posted by martyb on Thursday April 11 2019, @07:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the To-the-Moon-Alice! dept.

[UPDATED. 2019-04-11 03:30pm EDT (19:05 UTC): (From what I heard translated on the live feed.) It appears there was a problem with the main engine. They tried restarting and were able to restart it at one point. They lost telemetry a couple of times. Then it was reported that they lost the lander. Said they were only the 7th country to successfully orbit the moon. --martyb]

Private Spacecraft Attempts a Moon Landing Today:

It has been 48 days since the Beresheet spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket and began a spiraling series of orbits to raise itself toward the Moon. Last week, the 180kg vehicle fired its engines to enter into lunar orbit, and now the time has come for it to attempt a soft landing on the Moon.

No private company has ever achieved what SpaceIL, a private group organized in Israel to win the now defunct Google Lunar XPrize, is attempting. At 3:05pm EDT Thursday (19:05 UTC), the Beresheet vehicle will begin the landing process that will set it down at Mare Serenitatis (the "Sea of Serenity"), about 30 degrees north of the lunar equator. The actual landing should come about 20 minutes later.

Live coverage is available on YouTube.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @07:47PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @07:47PM (#828216)

    They seem to be unsure whether they are a private company or not.

    Public:

    they were only the 7th country to successfully orbit the moon.

    Private:

    No private company has ever achieved what SpaceIL, a private group ...

    The same confusion was apparent in the youtube chat stream as well.

    So who gets the credit/blame? A group of investors or the nation of Israel?

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:04PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:04PM (#828221)
    The failure is private, the success belongs to the country.
    • (Score: 5, Touché) by DannyB on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:15PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:15PM (#828228) Journal

      In the US it is the opposite.

      Profits are private, Costs belong to the country.

      Success is private, Failure belongs to the country.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:39PM

        by Immerman (3985) on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:39PM (#828244)

        I think it's actually a lot simpler, and a lot more universal:

        Material profits are private, symbolic successes and failures are shared, along with the material costs.