Beresheet Moon Impact Site
| Credit | NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University |
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| Historical Date | April 22, 2019 |
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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the final resting place of Israel's Beresheet Moon lander. Beresheet was Israel's first lunar mission and the first attempt by a private company to land on the Moon.
The spacecraft achieved lunar orbit, but was lost after a hard landing during the April 11, 2019 landing attempt. SpaceIL, a non-profit organization, attempted to land its spacecraft in a region of the Moon called Sea of Serenity, or Mare Serenitatis in Latin.
As soon as its orbit placed NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) over the landing site on April 22, 2019, LRO captured a six-image sequence of the area that could be compared to previous images. It appears the spacecraft impacted from the north on the rim of a small crater (a few meters across), leaving a dark, elongated (to the south) "smudge" on Mare Serenitatis.
Beresheet means "In the Beginning" in Hebrew.
