SpaceIL Secures Funds To Attempt Another Lunar Landing

SpaceIL, the nonprofit Israeli initiative whose spacecraft crashed on the moon two years ago, says that it has secured $70 million in funding to make a second attempt at a lunar landing.

SpaceIL says the new pledges mean that it has raised almost all of the $100 million it estimates is needed for the mission to meet its 2024 launch target.

SpaceIL says the funding will come from South African-Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn, who bankrolled much of the first mission, French-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi, and South African philanthropist Martin Moshal, co-founder of venture capital firm, Entree Capital.

The first “Beresheet,” or “Genesis” spacecraft, built by SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, crashed into the moon moments before touchdown in April 2019, falling short in its attempt to become the first privately funded lunar landing.

Read more at Times of Israel.

{Matzav.com}