In a first, SpaceX launches private Israeli moon mission

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched an Indonesian communications satellite and Israel's first lunar lander Thursday night from Cape Canaveral.

This is historic for two reasons: Israel has never before tried a lunar landing, and no one has ever launched a privately funded moon mission. Called Beresheet — Hebrew for "in the beginning" — the spacecraft is roughly the size of a washing machine, and is expected to reach the moon in about two months. The nonprofit organization SpaceIL is behind the $100 million mission, and says that Beresheet has already started sending data back to Earth.

If it makes it to the moon, Beresheet will transmit photos and measure the magnetic field of its landing site. Due to the high price of rockets, SpaceIL chose to tag along with the Indonesian satellite. "This is Uber-style space exploration, so we're riding shotgun on the rocket," SpaceIL co-founder Yonatan Winetraub said.

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