Israel's Space IL lunar spacecraft Beresheet has taken a selfie in outer space, 37,600 kilometers from Earth, using a special selfie camera with which it will snap itself after landing on the moon on April 11. The selfie, which will be taken next month will prove that Israel has become the fourth country to land on the Moon after the US, Russia and China.
Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1), which manufactured Space IL and leads Israel's moon landing program, said that Australia can be seen in the selfie taken today. The picture, taken during a slow orbit, also includes a board attached to the spacecraft with the Israeli flag and the words in Hebrew "Am Israel Chai," the people of Israel lives and Small Country Big Dreams.
The selfie is the most distant picture ever taken by an Israeli instrument.
In about two days, Beresheet is expected to undertake an additional maneuver as part of its journey to the moon at the furthest part of its orbit, when it is 270,000 kilometers from Earth. Its previous maneuver was undertaken last Thursday evening when it successfully operated its engines for four minutes.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 5, 2019
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