We’re heading to the Moon in a new beginning with SpaceIL

Israel’s first, private lunar lander is on its way to the Moon after a successful launch onboard the SpaceX Nusantara Satu mission. If our lander makes it to the lunar surface, Israel will be the fourth nation to land on the Moon, and the first country to land SpaceIL‘s privately built spacecraft.

Building the lander

SpaceIL has a great time-lapse video showing the lander’s construction:

The launch

The launch itself was pretty exciting (as most SpaceX launches are). We watched the recording of the launch this morning before our kids left for school:

Reaching the Moon

The lander itself is pretty small, and it will use a series of gravitational maneuvers to reach the Moon in early April. Here’s what we can expect to happen:

This is really exciting. It will take some time for the lander to arrive at the Moon so, in the meantime, read Ars Technica’s “The first private mission to the Moon may launch Thursday night“, and follow along on Twitter for updates:

Featured image: “Nusantara Satu Mission” by SpaceX, released to the Public Domain