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[b]World's First Privately Funded Lunar Spacecraft Launches Successfully Aboard Spacex Rocket[/b] [i]Israeli moon lander Beresheet launched from Cape Canaveral on Thursday at 8:45 p.m. ET Mission control room in Israel established communication with the spacecraft at 9:23 p.m. ET Beresheet's legs deployed, as planned, at 9:25 p.m. ET[/i] Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) today announced that Israel's inaugural voyage to the moon – the world's first privately funded lunar mission – launched successfully on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 8:45 pm. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. Once Beresheet ("in the beginning") completes its lunar mission, Israel would join superpowers China, Russia and the United States in landing a spacecraft on the moon. The spacecraft successfully disengaged from the SpaceX Falcon 9 at around 60,000 kilometers above Earth's surface, beginning, under its own power, a two-month voyage to the Moon's surface. Beresheet communicated for the first time with the mission's control center in Yehud, Israel, at 9:23 p.m. ET, and the spacecraft's legs deployed two minutes later. As of Friday morning, the spacecraft was 69,400 km above Earth, and is starting its way back to begin its first orbit around Earth. In the meantime, the engineers at the SpaceIL and IAI control room have been conducting many in-orbit tests, and have identified high sensitivity to blinding by the sun's rays in the star trackers, though this issue is being checked. On Sunday the spacecraft is expected to conduct its first maneuver around Earth. Morris Kahn, President of SpaceIL: "The successful launch positions Israel on the map. History has been made. We look forward to an amazing seven-week journey that will mark yet another historic even. We cross our fingers for Beresheet. Thank you to the amazing teams of SpaceIL and IAI. Israel is now on the space map." Ido Anteby, CEO of SpaceIL: "We arrived at the launch with a fully tested spacecraft on its way for a highly challenging mission. I am proud of SpaceIL and IAI teams who made this accomplishment possible with professional work, perseverance and collaboration. In the next two months, Beresheet will continue its challenging journey until it lands on the moon." Nimrod Sheffer, CEO, Israel Aerospace Industries: "This Friday morning (Israel time), SpaceIL and IAI, the partners in the Beresheet project, announced the successful launch of the spacecraft. Initial data was received in the control room in Yehud, the spacecraft's legs deployed as planned and Beresheet started in-orbit tests while cruising to the moon. After all sub-systems are tested, Beresheet will start its first maneuver and begin circling the Earth within nine hours." Beresheet fans around the world can track the spacecraft's progress, [URL=http://live.spaceil.com/]here[/URL].
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