A small spacecraft named Beresheet took off on a trip to the moon yesterday, vaulting an improbable group of privately funded Israeli scientists to heights achieved only by the world’s largest government space agencies.
![The first privately funded mission to the moon begins its loooong journey](https://20627419.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/20627419/hubfs/The%20Hustle/Assets/Images/803494615-share_me_now_brief_2019-02-21T233736.535Z-1.webp?width=595&height=400&name=803494615-share_me_now_brief_2019-02-21T233736.535Z-1.webp)
The scheme, which grew out of a drunken conversation in Tel Aviv less than a decade ago, would be the first private space mission ever to reach the moon.
Calling all lunatics
Yariv Bash, a starry-eyed dreamer who moonlighted as a computer engineer, took a shot in the dark on Facebook in 2010 with a post that said, “Who wants to go to the moon?”
Two friends expressed immediate interest. After hashing out preliminary plans, the group formed a nonprofit called SpaceIL to help get their dream off the ground.
Initially, the amateur rocket scientists imagined they could use the winnings of Google’s Lunar X Prize ($20m) to reach the moon. But after Google postponed its award and ultimately canceled it altogether, the SpaceIL team had to find a new way to shoot for the moon.
‘Ehh, we’ll take the long way’
In 1973, early missions to the moon cost the modern equivalent of $2.6B per launch. But unlike state-sponsored space programs, SpaceIL doesn’t have unlimited cash to burn.
So, to keep costs of the project down, SpaceIL is taking the long way: Instead of shelling out for enough rocket fuel to bust right out of Earth’s orbit, the company is going to slowly slingshot out of orbit to use less fuel — extending a 250k-mile journey to 4m miles.
By tapping into an extended network of philanthropists and volunteers, SpaceIL was able to raise the $100m necessary to purchase a berth aboard a SpaceX rocket.
Next stop: The moon
But don’t hold your breath.
Last night at 5:45 pm EST, a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, FL. Then, at 6:19 pm, the rocket released the washing machine-sized Beresheet into orbit.
Now, the Beresheet will begin its slow, slingshot process to the moon — a process that will take a couple of months.
In the meantime, several other space programs will continue working toward launching their own moon missions: India hopes to launch its lunar lander, Chandrayaan-2, in April.