By Faruk Zorlu </p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – An Israeli-made private spacecraft on Thursday failed to land on the moon after losing its main engine, according to local press reports.</p> <p>Communication with one of the landing detectors on the spacecraft — called the Beresheet — was cut off when the spacecraft was about to reach the lunar surface, reported Israeli daily Haaretz, citing the control room.</p> <p>"According to all the signs, we won't be the fourth country to land on the moon," the control room said.</p> <p>“We were very close on the moon. We're on the moon, just not how we wanted. We'll check it again and try to understand what happened.”
The failure of the $100 million mission means that Israel did not join the former Soviet Union, U.S., and China in landing a spacecraft on the moon.
The ship was a joint project between Israel Aerospace Industries and SpaceIL, a private Israeli non-profit.
