Israeli spacecraft performs final major maneuver on way to moon

Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft successfully completed its fourth and final maneuver before approaching the moon, placing it on track for a historic landing on the Moon’s Sea of Serenity in two weeks.

Beresheet’s engine was activated for 60 seconds, putting it into a new orbit that takes it as far as 405,000 kilometers from Earth, Times of Israel reported.

The SpaceIL firm said the maneuver was performed a day ahead of schedule, and that smaller adjustments to Beresheet’s orbit would be carried out over the coming days.

A previous maneuver last month was delayed by several days following a worrisome computer glitch, but was then performed successfully.

Beresheet lifted off on February 22 from Cape Canaveral atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company of entrepreneur Elon Musk.