Israeli Lunar Lander Snaps Amazing Photos of the Far Side of the Moon
By Meghan Bartels 5 hours ago
A view of the far side of the moon, with Earth in the background, captured by the Beresheet lander during its lunar orbital insertion on April 4, 2019.(Image: © SpaceIL/Eliran Avital)
Israel's Beresheet lander finally concluded a long, spiraling journey out of Earth's orbit and into the moon's, and the SpaceIL team celebrated by releasing stunning photographs the spacecraft captured of the far side of the moon.
The spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit yesterday (April 4) in preparation for landing on April 11. The occasion makes Israel the seventh nation to build a spacecraft that has successfully orbited the moon.
SpaceIL didn't provide many details about the photographs themselves, but did note that the image of the lunar surface was taken from about 292 miles (470 kilometers) above the moon.
The spacecraft's landing site is on the near side of the moon, but these first two images released by the SpaceIL team star the far side of the moon. However, landing there is a much more complicated endeavor, since it requires a communications relay satellite to ensure the lander can still send data back to Earth.
More:
https://www.space.com/israeli-lander-moon-far-side-photos.html?utm_source=notification
