Israel ’s first moon lander has crashed after its engine malfunctioned during its descent to the lunar surface . Controllers failed to reset the craft ’s system to restart the engine in time . The lander was built by Israel Aerospace Industries ( Israel ) for non - profit SpaceIL . IAI space division general manager Opher Doron said success would have made Israel the seventh country to build a rocket that orbited the moon and the fourth to land . The X Prize Foundation , which ran a competition for privately funded moon landings , offered to pay the $ 1 m prize for success to Israel for coming close .
Israel’s Beresheet moon lander has crashed after its engine malfunctioned during its descent to the lunar surface. Controllers failed to reset the craft’s system to restart the engine in time. The lander was built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for non-profit SpaceIL. IAI space division general manager Opher Doron said success would have made Israel the seventh country to launch a rocket that orbited the moon and the fourth to land. The X Prize Foundation, which ran a competition for privately funded moon landings, agreed to pay the $1m prize for success to SpaceIL for coming close.