Beresheet

Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, was a privately funded lunar lander developed by SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit organization, with technical support from Israel Aerospace Industries and other partners. The project aimed to perform a soft landing on the Moon and, if successful, would have made Israel the fourth nation to achieve a lunar landing after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.

Launched February 21, 2019, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, the lander carried a payload that included the Lunar Library, a digital archive of human knowledge created by the Arch Mission Foundation intended to remain on the Moon. The mission emphasized a compact, cost-conscious design suitable for a privately funded effort.

During the descent on April 11, 2019, Beresheet encountered an anomaly in the main engine's thrust. Despite efforts to correct course, contact was lost just before touchdown, and the spacecraft crash-landed on the lunar surface.

The mission did not achieve its landing objective, but it represented a historic milestone as the first privately funded lunar attempt and Israel's first participation in a lunar mission. The venture highlighted the potential for private sector involvement in space exploration and contributed to ongoing conversations about affordable lunar access.