An Israeli spacecraft on Tuesday sent its first selfie from its mission to the moon back to its control room in Yehud, AFP reported. The aircraft is expected to touch down on April 11.
The selfie shows the aircraft with the Earth in the background while it was 37,600 kilometres away.
The Beresheet spacecraft has a scientific instrument on board to measure the lunar magnetic field to aid it in its understanding of the moon’s formation. The spacecraft has a time capsule loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children’s drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.
The mission partners, NGO SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on February 22. The partners used entrepreneur Elon Musk-owned Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch its spacecraft. The name of the aircraft means Genesis in Hebrew.
Israel joins Russia, the United States and China in their missions to the moon.
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