Blast-off to the moon scheduled for 12:45pm Friday
February 19, 2019 Agencies
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Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have announced that Israel’s inaugural voyage to the moon – the world’s first privately funded lunar mission – will begin on Feb. 21 at approximately 8:45 p.m. EST, when the lunar lander “Beresheet” (“In the Beginning”) blasts off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Moon craft Photo: Eliran Avital
About 30 minutes after liftoff, the spacecraft will disengage from the SpaceX Falcon 9 at around 60,000 kilometres above Earth’s surface, beginning, under its own power, a two-month voyage to the Moon’s surface. Two minutes after it separates from the rocket, Beresheet will communicate for the first time with the mission’s control centre in Yehud, Israel.
SpaceX will broadcast the historic launch live on its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/spacexchannel), and SpaceIL will simultaneously air on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SpaceIL/) live video from inside the control room in Yehud.
I was shocked to see the Australian Jewish News gave no coverage whatsoever in this week’s edition to this momentous event taking place on the 50th anniversary of the first landing by man on the moon.
Furthermore the AJN only woke up at the last minute to what was going on with Malaysia blocking Israeli athletes from participating in the paralympic swimming world championships this year.
What really got me though was the total lack of any coverage of International Holocaust Remembrance Day last month and the appalling event that was staged at Glen Eira Town Hall.
Thank G-d for JWire and other media sources because the AJN is clearly failing to do what the premier(?)national Jewish newspaper should be doing.