Israel's SpaceIL will not try second moonshot
SpaceIL, the Israeli company that attempted but failed to put an unmanned craft on the moon earlier this year, says it will not try a second moonshot.
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A successful mission would have made Israel the fourth country to complete a moonshot [AFP]
SpaceIL, the Israeli company that attempted but failed to put an unmanned craft on the moon earlier this year, says it will not try a second moonshot.
The company issued a statement on Tuesday saying its lunar mission in April has been widely hailed as "an exceptional success," despite crash landing on the moon.
It says that "an attempt to repeat a trip to the moon is not enough of a challenge" and will instead search for a different mission.
The SpaceIL "Beresheet" spacecraft attempted to be the first privately funded lunar mission, but failed to make a controlled landing on the lunar surface.
Israel announced the plan in summer last year, with hopes of staking Israel's claim among the high-tech elite.
A successful operation would have made it only the fourth country to ever complete a moon mission.
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