Israeli lunar mission Beresheet crashed on the Moon. Beresheet crashed during a landing attempt. It is said that the spacecraft had problems with its main engine during its descent that left it unable to slow down in time before it smashed into the lunar surface. Beresheet was an Israeli mission launched by a partnership between nonprofit SpacelL and government-owned aerospace company Israel Aerospace Industries. It is the World's first privately funded lunar Mission. It was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander. Its aims included promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and landing its magnetometer and laser retroreflector on the Moon. Beresheet lander had carried a science instrument provided by NASA, a retroreflector instrument scientists would have used to make precise measurements of the distance between Earth and the moon.
