The Israeli lunar lander Beresheet is getting ready to touch down on the moon on April 11, 2019.
This will be a huge milestone. To date, the only organizations to pull off a soft lunar landing are superpower governments — the Soviet Union, the United States and China.
Beresheet, is a private effort run by the nonprofit SpaceIL and the company Israel Aerospace Industries. SpaceIL formed in 2011 to compete in the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP).
Beresheet will perform some science work at and around the moon, such as measuring local lunar magnetic fields. It also carries a “lunar library” to help safeguard slices of human history and culture.
The total cost of the mission, including launch, is about $100 million, according to team members.