Israeli Spacecraft- Beresheet, Crashed On Moon

The Israeli spacecraft - called Beresheet - attempted a soft touch down, but suffered technical problems on its descent to the Moon's surface. The first privately funded mission to the Moon has crashed on the lunar surface after the apparent failure of its main engine.

Only government space agencies from the former Soviet Union, the US and China have achieved soft lunar landings.

Israel hoped to become the fourth country to do this. The aim of the mission was to take pictures and conduct experiments. The spacecraft didn't make it but definitely tried, remarked project originator and major backer Morris Kahn. He further stated that the achievement of getting to where they got is really tremendous and that it is definitely a proud movement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, watching from the control room near Tel Aviv, said: "If at first, you don't succeed, you try again."

Tensions were high in the command center as communications were lost before Opher Doron, the general manager of Israel Aerospace Industries' space division, announced there had been a failure in the spacecraft.

After a seven-week journey to the Moon, the unmanned spacecraft approached a final orbit at 15km (9m) from the surface.