SpaceIL, the Israeli company that attempted but failed to put an unmanned craft on the moon earlier this year, says it will not try a second moonshot.
The company issued a statement Tuesday saying its lunar mission in April has been widely hailed as "an exceptional success," despite crash landing on the moon.
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SpaceIL says that "an attempt to repeat a trip to the moon is not enough of a challenge" and will instead search for a different mission.
SpaceIL's Beresheet spacecraft attempted to be the first privately funded lunar mission but failed to make a controlled landing on the lunar surface after a 49-day voyage.
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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 – 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.
