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As a Falcon 9 rocket blasts off the ground Thursday night, an Israeli spacecraft flying as a secondary payload will commence its quarter-million mile journey to the lunar surface.
With rocket launches resuming this week for the Space Coast, spectators will get to witness SpaceX launch the Indonesian Nusantara Satu communications satellite to a geostationary orbit, while Israel's first lunar lander begins its long trek to the moon.
The spacecraft will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 8:45 p.m. ET with a 32-minute launch-time window from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Named Beresheet, after the Hebrew word for "in the beginning," the nearly 400-pound — 1,300 pounds when fully fueled — spacecraft is not only Israel's first lunar mission, but the country's first privately funded one as well.
The lander will travel through space for approximately two months before it attempts to touchdown on the moon. If successful, it would mark the first time a spacecraft vehicle that has mainly been privately funded lands on a planetary body, as well as being the lightest man-made object to touch down on the surface.
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What will the lander do on the moon?
Created by the Israeli nonprofit company, SpaceIL, the lunar lander mission stems from the now-defunct Google Lunar XPRIZE competition of which SpaceIL was a finalist. Though the competition ended without a winner, SpaceIL persevered to make sure the lunar mission became a reality.
Upon success of the mission, the lander would only stay about two days on the lunar surface, all the time taking pictures that it would be transmitting back to Earth. It will also be studying the moon's magnetic field for a joint Weizmann Insitiute – NASA experiment.
Plans are to land Beresheet in Mare Serenitatis, a lunar region that supposedly contains "magnetic anomalies," something SpaceIL wants to conduct further analysis on.
Goals are for the Beresheet mission to inspire more Israelis to pursue STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — careers, as well as to educate the world on everything that goes into getting to the moon, according to SpaceIL's website.
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Fourth country to touch down on the moon
Up to this point, only three nations have landed on the lunar surface: the U.S., Russia and China. If SpaceIL's mission is a success, Israel would be the fourth country to send a spacecraft all the way to the moon.
Earlier this year, the world saw history made as China became the first to land a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. India also intends to send its Chandrayaan-2 mission — an orbiter, lander and rover — to the lunar surface later this year.
NASA also announced its intentions to land up to four astronauts on the moon for a weeklong stay as soon as 2028.
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SpaceX's first intraplanetary misson
This mission will not only have a lot of firsts for Israel, but will also be the first intraplanetary — travelling between planetary bodies — for a Falcon 9 rocket.
Instead of an interplanetary mission, which involves travelling to different planets, this will be SpaceX's first attempt where a Falcon 9 rocket sends a spacecraft to the moon.
How to stay updated
Stay updated with FLORIDA TODAY's space team for countdown updates, live chat and a live streaming of SpaceX's launch webcast beginning approximately 15 minutes before liftoff.
SpaceIL will also be providing live video on Thursday from its control room in Yehud, Israel on its Facebook page.
Follow Antonia Jaramillo on Twitter at @AntoniaJ_11
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Mission: Nusantara Satu communications satellite; SpaceIL lunar lander; Air Force Research Laboratory's S5
Launch Time: 8:45 p.m.
Launch Window: 32 minutes, to 9:17 p.m.
Launch Complex: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Landing: Of Course I Still Love You drone ship
Weather: 80 percent "go"
Join floridatoday.com at 7:45 p.m. Thursday for countdown updates and chat, including live streaming of SpaceX's launch webcast starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX is set to launch Israel's first lunar lander. Here's what you need to know
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