Israel flying to moon after SpaceX launch
CAPE CANAVERAL -- An Israeli spacecraft rocketed toward the moon for the country's first attempted lunar landing, following a launch Thursday night by SpaceX.
A communications satellite for Indonesia was the main cargo aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, which illuminated the sky as it took flight. But Israel's privately funded lunar lander -- a first not just for Israel but commercial space -- generated the buzz.
Israel seeks to become only the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, after Russia, the U.S. and China. The spacecraft -- called Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis or "In The Beginning" -- will take nearly two months to reach the moon.
