(Times of Israel) Melanie Lidman - After 47 days and 6.5 million km., Israel's Beresheet spacecraft is set to land on the moon's surface on Thursday. If successful, Israel will become the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon. Engineers activated Beresheet's engines on Wednesday night for the final maneuver, putting the spacecraft into an orbit only 13-17 km. above the moon's surface at its closest point. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will gently set down and spend two to three days carrying out science experiments studying the moon's magnetic field before the sun's rays become too strong and disable the spacecraft's computers.
2019-04-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive