Israel plans to land spacecraft on moon

SpaceIL and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, plan to launch their craft in December and transmit pictures and videos from the lunar surface back to Earth.

The craft, which is shaped like a round table with four carbon fiber legs, is set to blast off in December from Florida’s Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Ido Anteby, chief executive of the SpaceIL non-profit, said.

If  Israel successful, will become the fourth country to put a craft on the lunar surface, after the US, the Soviet Union and China.

The  project costing $95 million, largely funded by South African-Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and other donors, aims to land on the moon on February.

What we're doing is we're trying to replicate the Apollo effect in the United States, South African-Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn, the project's largest donor, said, referring to the surge in interest in science and engineering after the U.S space program landed on the moon in 1969.

By: Ahmed Yasser.