Yehud: An Israeli spacecraft lost contact with Earth and crashed just moments before it was to land on the moon late Thursday, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history as the first privately funded lunar mission.
The Beresheet spacecraft lost communication with ground control as it was making its final descent.
Moments later, the mission was declared a failure.
"We definitely crashed on the surface of the moon," said Opher Doron, general manager of the space division of Israel Aerospace Industries, adding the spacecraft scattered in pieces at the planned landing site.
Doron said the spacecraft's engine turned off shortly before landing, and scientists were still trying to figure out the cause of the failure.
The mishap occurred in front of a packed audience that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was broadcast live on national television.
The 100 million US dollar mission had been financed largely by Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and a handful of other investors.
Kahn put on a brave face, and said the mission had been a "tremendous effort" by the non-profit SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, who had hoped to match a feat that has only been achieved by the national space agencies of three countries: the US, Russia and China.
"If at first you don't succeed, try try again," Netanyahu told Kahn.
Suspense had gripped the control room around 20 minutes before the scheduled landing, as engine firings slowed Beresheet's descent.
Engineers watched in silence as the spacecraft, its movements streamed live on dozens of screens, glided toward a free-fall.
But then the screens showed the engine misfiring, and the velocity surging as it headed toward the lunar surface.
Radio signals from the spacecraft, the size of a washing machine, abruptly cut off, and nervous chatter erupted in the control room.
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Standing before darkened computer screens, commanders declared the mission a failure.
The failure was a disappointing ending to a 6.5 million kilometre (4 million mile) lunar voyage, almost unprecedented in length, that was designed to conserve fuel and reduce price.
The spacecraft had hitched a ride on a SpaceX Falcon rocket launched from Florida in February.
For the past two months, Beresheet, which means "Genesis" or "In the Beginning", travelled around the Earth several times before entering lunar orbit.
