CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An Israeli team aiming to land a spacecraft on the moon in two weeks can now expect more than glory if it works. How about a cool $1 million?
The XPrize Foundation announced Thursday it’s offering a $1 million award for a successful lunar landing.
Israel’s privately financed spacecraft Beresheet — Hebrew for “In the Beginning” — launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, last month. It’s on track to land on the moon April 11, which would make Israel only the fourth country to successfully pull off a lunar landing.
SpaceIL, the Israeli nonprofit behind Beresheet, made the final cut in the $20 million Google Lunar XPrize competition, which ended last year without a winner. The new award was inspired by SpaceIL’s perseverance.
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