Space: Israeli moon lander fails to touch down

ANKARA

An Israeli-made private spacecraft on Thursday failed to land on the moon after losing its main engine, according to local press reports.

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.

"According to all the signs, we won't be the fourth country to land on the moon," the control room said.

“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.