Fresh images and video were transmitted to Earth from the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet on its way to the moon, SpaceIL and the Israel Aerospace Industries announced on Sunday.
The photos and videos were taken by the spacecraft at different heights and times.
One of the videos includes a sunrise from the spacecraft's viewpoint – the Earth can be seen hiding the sun from the spacecraft and then exiting the same shadow created by the sun's exposure. This process creates a kind of sunrise image.
Beresheet ("In the beginning," the first word of the Torah and the Hebrew name for the Book of Genesis), lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 22.
If the mission succeeds, Israel will become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon, after the Soviet Union, the United States and China.
The Beresheet mission was originally part of the Google Lunar XPrize competition and even made the final cut before the contest ended last year without a winner.
The organizers decided to press ahead on their own, and the project – which cost around 100 million dollars - was financed largely by philanthropists Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson together with SpaceIL President Morris Kahn, as well as other donors from around the world.
The Adelson family owns the company that is the primary shareholder in Israel Hayom. Dr. Miriam Adelson is the publisher of Israel Hayom.
