Israeli spacecraft performs final major maneuver on way to moon

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.

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