On Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at 2:30 PM, the engineering team of SpaceIL and IAI performed a maneuver to align “Beresheet” spacecraft on the right track to the moon.

Yoav Landsman, senior engineer at SpaceIL, explained, “Unlike previous maneuvers in which we accelerated the spacecraft’s speed to increase its orbit, in this maneuver we modified the orbit’s plane to slightly tilt the angle and ensure the spacecraft reaches the lunar orbit at exactly the right time and place.”

Ephi, Beresheet project manager at IAI, added, “Since its launch, Beresheet has performed three key maneuvers to reach higher altitudes. The current maneuver has aligned its orbit to achieve accurate lunar capture.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)