Focus on Israel

Laurie Cardoza-Moore: Beresheet is the first word in the book of Genesis. It means "in the beginning." It's also the name of the Israeli spacecraft that recently launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. After eight years of hard work, the dream came true as Israel sent a spacecraft to the moon.

Hello, I'm Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and sharing the message of the Christian biblical responsibility to the people and land of Israel in the face of a growing global anti-Semitism. PJTN was birthed to stop the silence, to wake up Christians and people of conscience to the realities of a world bent on destroying Israel and the Jewish people.

Today on Focus on Israel, you’ll learn more about the fantastic Israel space program, SpaceIL. In 2015, we made a trip to Israel to shoot interviews and footage for our award-winning documentary, Boycott This!, starring comedian Brad Stein. We happened to find out about the new Israeli space travel venture called SpaceIL.

In the company’s plans was a trip to the moon, a feat accomplished by only three countries: the US, Russia, and China. Could tiny Israel actually accomplish such an ambitious mission? We were able to meet with one of the founders while in Tel Aviv. Brad’s talk with computer expert Kfir Damari was certainly enlightening and surprising.

Brad Stein: See? Jews in space!

Kfir Damari: It will be the smallest spacecraft that took the smallest timeframe to build with the lowest budget, and we'll show that with limited resources you can land on the moon. Hopefully, if you look at humanity, we can show that in the same amount of resources, you can land not just one spacecraft, but you can land 10 or 20. This will be something that could advance humanity in a huge way.

We're basing it on a lot of Israeli technology, so that's part of the equation. Really, the educational impact is hopefully inspiring kids to be engineers, and maybe we'll even inspire the imagination of kids around the world to do that.

Yariv Bash: Kids need all kinds of role models. I think that today it's needed more than ever. It's about building ourselves a better future. Projects like the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition and SpaceIL are needed to push humanity forward. One thing that my grandfather taught me was choose something that you'll be good at and then just follow your dreams.

My grandfather was in Auschwitz back in 1944. During that time, the Germans chose a group of metalworkers and engineers from Auschwitz to be taken to assemble the V-1 and V-2 rockets. That way he managed to survive. He had a wife and a five-year-old daughter that died during the Holocaust. When I was young, he always bought me those do-it-yourself kits to assemble and we would sit down and assemble them together.

He had a very strong impact on my decision to become an engineer. Sadly, I too have grown in a region that has lots of divisions. There isn't one person in the entire region who doesn't think about those kind of things daily. But I felt that I'm in this world to make peaceful and positive things that will help to advance humanity. Now we're trying to send a spacecraft to the moon.

Building something that will go to the moon is the ultimate experience for a maker. Today we've got more than 40 full-time engineers working on the Google Lunar XPRIZE project. Luckily we've got the support of the Israel Aerospace Industry. Now we are in the IAI facilities. This is the place where our spacecraft is going to be integrated in a few months. We will take it to the moon.

We were one of the last teams to register at the race. One of the things that we came up with was to have just one machine to hover above the surface of the moon. Everything becomes a bit simpler, and that was the first huge step that we made on our way to the moon. It is rocket science. Scientists and engineers are the people that move the world forward. We have to push forward with those inspiration stories if we want more engineers.

We live in a very harsh environment with very unknown factors surrounding us. If we can manage to solve the problems on this part of the world, the world will be a much better place. I've always loved space. When I was younger, I had lots of time in the desert. I like the connection between the vastness of space on one hand and the vastness of the desert on the other hand.

When you see the Earth from space, you can't see any borders. You just see one planet filled with people. When people realize most of their time is being spent on useless things like fighting, that's when things will change. My grandfather taught me to be always optimistic. For me, sending a spacecraft to the moon represents that everything is possible and that the human spirit will win.

My son is one year old now. I really hope that he will grow up to a better place. I hope that as humanity progresses, people will love each other more than they do now. I can only hope that the children of this region will build a better future and put the past behind them.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore: I want to take you to Israel in pictures and film. I want you to see how God's sovereign hand can be seen before our eyes right here in this land. That's why PJTN is offering a special anniversary package that includes a captivating new book and award-winning DVD. Israel Rising is a unique visual story of Israel's miraculous journey from unforgiving desert to thriving nation.

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This is a limited time offer for these two remarkable resources for just a one-time gift of $70 today. Your generous donation will help ensure that PJTN stays on the front lines and in the headlines of all the important issues facing Israel and our Jewish brothers. Please go to pjtn.org today. From studying history, it's very clear that what starts with the Jews never ends only with the Jews.

We must strongly stand against any anti-Semitic trends, for if not stopped, they'll cause harm to all of us and we'll witness the downfall of our Judeo-Christian Western culture. Today many people say there's no longer a need for a Jewish state, that Jews around the world no longer need a place of refuge. But anyone who has heard recent statistics about the worldwide rise in anti-Semitism would never make such a claim.

The reality is that neo-Nazi groups and Nazi sympathizers are increasing around the world. Surveys show that over one billion people in the world harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. Close to 50 percent believe that Jews have too much power in the business world, and two-thirds of the world's population has never heard of the Holocaust or believe the historical accounts of it are inaccurate.

Don't let yourself be manipulated by evil people with a wicked agenda. When the self-serving villains are in control, good people from all religions suffer. Muslims, Christians, and all people of conscience should stand proudly and show respect for a country that gives so much to the world in so many ways. Do your part, do your research, and do what you can to make a difference.

Because what happens in Israel does affect us all. This is not just a Jewish or just an Israeli problem. This is a problem for all humanity, for each and every one of us who believe in freedom and human rights. Learn more about what you can do at pjtn.org. On February 22nd of 2019, the dream became reality after eight years of hard work.

The SpaceIL craft was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and made history as it traveled toward its lunar destination. Next up, you'll see part of the National Geographic documentary on the project titled, Rookie Moonshot: Budget Mission to the Moon.

Narrator: April 11th, 2019. We have passed the point of no return. We are in the landing process. The first privately funded spacecraft attempts to land on the moon. They've made people stand up and take note. This is the story of how three space rookies dared to dream. They're showing that even though space is very hard, it's not impossible.

It rallied a country behind them. It is not just a spacecraft; it carries the hopes and dreams of a nation. They built a budget lunar lander. $100 million, that's chump change in the space world. NASA would never build a spacecraft using off-the-shelf stuff. They hitched a ride. You have to remember, space launch is really expensive. They proved the moon is open for business.

Cape Canaveral, Florida. At the top of this SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits the future of space exploration. A tiny, privately made Israeli spacecraft called Beresheet, meaning "in the beginning," is being fitted into the nosecone. One slip could destroy eight years of work. She aims to join the United States, the USSR, and China in landing on the moon.

But in space terms, she's doing it on the cheap. $100 million is less than 0.1 percent of NASA's Apollo program. What's really important is it will demonstrate something we already know can be done. To do it at the relatively low cost that they're doing it will be something that will be monumental. These are bargain basement prices for getting to the moon. No one has ever approached anywhere close to that before.

These guys think you can get there on a shoestring. Israeli engineers Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub say it's absolutely spectacular. With front-row tickets to the launch, they are two of the three brains behind the daring moonshot. This is where they actually launched the Apollo landers, so Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin might have gone for a run around here. We are a bit sad that we are actually saying goodbye to Beresheet.

The third engineer behind the spacecraft is Yariv Bash. He's watching the launch from mission control in Israel. Yariv says he just went to the launch room and everybody at the mission control center is quite excited. He likes the commotion with all the people who worked on the project. Public viewing areas are crammed, the audience gripped by moon fever.

So many people here, you can tell how proud we are that our spacecraft will go to the moon. The world is also watching this incredible rookie lunar mission. This is the first private mission to the moon. It has never been done. The springboard to this audacious moonshot is the 2007 launch of the Google Lunar XPRIZE. The contest challenges amateurs to build a spacecraft.

It must be able to cope with a vigorous launch, the harsh vacuum of space, and a tricky moon landing. In late 2010, Yariv, Kfir, and Yonatan meet in a pub to take up the challenge. Eight years later, with a final price tag of $100 million, the spaceship is ready to launch. It's the moment of reckoning. Beresheet is balanced on top of 500 tons of rocket fuel.

In traditional moonshots, money is no object and you can take the direct route to the lunar surface. During the Apollo program, you could just fire your engines and go straight there. The Apollo landers were on the moon in the week following the launch. A direct route means your own rocket, a bigger spacecraft, and a hefty price tag. Beresheet's designers must think differently.

Beresheet starts her journey in an elliptical orbit around Earth. She slows down as she reaches the top of the arc. Then Earth's gravity pulls her back down and she speeds up, hitting 22,000 miles per hour when closest to Earth. For the past six weeks of her journey, Beresheet has orbited Earth, steadily getting closer to the moon. Now their paths will cross.

Beresheet must speed up to jump from Earth orbit into lunar orbit, braking quickly to stay with the gravitational pull of the moon. One wrong move and she will fly off into space or crash into the lunar surface. It's a critical moment in mission control. Budget spacecraft Beresheet is preparing to jump from Earth's gravity and start orbiting the moon.

It's a really crucial maneuver. We are either going to be captured into the lunar orbit or we're lost in space. Tensions are running high. Beresheet only has one shot and that's it. To be grabbed by the moon's gravity, Beresheet must brake by around 320 meters per second. Engines are working well, looking good up to now. She transmits back the make-or-break data.

Beresheet's done it! As of today, it's around the moon. That's the first time. Incredible. Within the hour, she transmits back the first photo of her destination. Just the fact that we have a picture of the moon from the spacecraft, we are there. Landing is the toughest maneuver of them all, as Apollo 11 discovered. As they descended, the astronauts saw a crater field strewn with huge boulders.

The astronauts ended up having to steer it manually to a safe landing. On Beresheet, there are no astronauts, there is no manual steering. If anything goes wrong, that's game over. She is traveling at one mile per second. The plan is to dramatically reduce that speed by firing her thrusters against the direction of travel. As we slow down, we begin to fall.

The spacecraft has to change its attitude so it also starts decelerating toward the ground. Beresheet was conceived over eight years ago on a scrap of paper in an Israeli pub. Now it's up to mission control to deliver this spacecraft into the history books. But first, she has to land. There's a million things that can go wrong.

Every person in this control room has tested a million things. We're going to get to the moon. The only question is in how many pieces. 500 miles from the designated landing site, Beresheet begins her descent. The plan is for her to use her thrusters to slow down until she is half a mile above the moon, feet facing down.

Then she'll fire her engines hard to hit zero miles per hour by 15 feet above the surface. Beresheet will then freefall gently to the moon. The spacecraft will decide by itself if everything is okay. If everything is okay, we're in a point of no return. We're in the landing process. There's nothing more we can do. The whole process will take us about 21 minutes.

The team at SpaceIL have programmed Beresheet to land by herself with little more than a homemade flight simulator. However, it hasn't always gone to plan.

Guest (Male): My first practice of the landing in a simulator, I did something wrong and it did exactly the opposite of what it should have done. It just accelerated toward the ground upside down and crashed magnificently. You need to improve from crashing to landing, of course. I keep this in order to remind me it's up to me and Tomer.

Narrator: Yoav, Tomer, and the team have done all they can to make landing a success. Now it's over to Beresheet. We are in the braking process. The braking process is working well. We are slowing down, and the spaceship is doing exactly what it's supposed to do right now. 13 miles above the surface and Beresheet is happy. She sends mission control a selfie.

But optimism is short-lived. We currently have a problem. They've lost communication. We lost telemetry for a few moments, and now we've got telemetry back again. It's obvious Beresheet is malfunctioning. We seem to have a problem with our main engine. We are resetting the spacecraft trying to enable the engine. We have the main engine back on.

But it's not... no, no. Beresheet is now speeding up, not slowing down, and the lunar surface is getting closer. We had a failure in the spacecraft. We unfortunately have not managed to land successfully. Beresheet crashes into the surface of the moon.

Guest (Male): We definitely tried, and I think that the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous. I think we can be proud. We did land, but at 500 kilometers per hour. That was roughly the speed of landing. We did get there. Not in one piece, but we did get there. It seems like there was some problem with the main thruster. It's too soon to know.

Narrator: Early indications suggest a spacecraft component failed, forcing the engines to shut down. When they came back on, it was too late. Beresheet can't transmit the crucial magnetometry data. The moon's formation remains a mystery. She does send one farewell image. They were proud but disappointed and really sad.

Hopefully this is the end of chapter one in a longer journey. Beresheet is the beginning, and if you persevere, if you dare to dream, you could get anywhere. We got to the moon. That's a pretty far anywhere.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore: Sadly, the flight ended in failure with the crash of the lunar lander on the moon's surface. But quitting has never been in the spirit of Israelis, and this ambitious start and near success has propelled SpaceIL to plan a new attempt called Beresheet 2. Unfortunately, some donors have decided to divert funds to other causes.

Without the bucks, there's no Buck Rogers. At PJTN, we pray someone will step up to help Israel reach the moon very soon. That's our program for today, and I want you to know we appreciate your support. The time to take a stand is now. Be a leader in your community and in your church. One person can make a difference.

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God bless you and thank you for all you do on behalf of our Jewish brethren and all Israel. We'll see you next time on Focus on Israel.