‘Ride share’ Israel Moon mission fails to land

An Israeli space mission to land the first private craft on the Moon ended in failure last night.

The Spaceil spacecraft lost contact with Earth late yesterday, just moments before it was to land on the Moon, and scientists declared the mission a failure.

Non-profit organisation Spaceil had hoped to see the Beresheet craft successfully complete a landing on the Moon, almost two months aftee it took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida as part of a “ride share” with Elon Musk’s Spacex. Thespacecraft, whose name is Hebrew for “Genesis”, had been circling the Earth in increasingly large orbits before being captured by the moon’s gravity.

Success would have Israel only the fourth country to manage a lunar landing, after Russia, The US and China.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try try again,” said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on hand for what organisers had hoped to be a celebration.