Beresheet was the first private spacecraft to attempt a Moon landing in 2019.
Built by the Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL with Israel Aerospace Industries, Beresheet launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on February 22, 2019. It took an energy-saving route that gradually expanded its Earth orbit before lunar capture, rather than flying directly to the Moon.
The lander successfully entered lunar orbit, but an engine shutdown during its final descent caused it to crash on April 11, 2019. Its target was the Sea of Serenity, the same broad lunar region where Apollo 17 landed in 1972. Beresheet carried a magnetometer and a NASA-provided laser retroreflector.
Peregrine, Nova-C, and Hakuto-R belong to later commercial lunar-landing efforts. Beresheet’s failure did not erase its historic achievement: it demonstrated that a privately funded team could reach lunar orbit and attempt a landing.