One Small Step for Science, One Giant Leap for Israel
Small Spacecraft,
Big Dream
אודות SpaceIL
About SpaceIL
SpaceIL is a non-profit organization that strives to promote science and science education. In April of 2019, SpaceIL became the first private entity in history to reach the Moon, thereby positioning Israel as the seventh country to reach the moon. This mission thrilled millions of people around the world and served as inspiration for the next generations of spacecraft builders in Israel. Currently, the organization is working to promote the Beresheet 2 Mission, concurrent to its educational activity.
The journey began in 2011, as the dream of three entrepreneurs: Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari, and Yehonatan Weintraub and quickly developed into a national project with many donors, partners, employees, and volunteers who joined in.
Following 8.5 year of work, our dream of reaching the Moon was made a reality, with the help of our major donors, namely, Morris Kahn, the Adelson Family, Silvan Adams, the Grand Family, the Schuster Family, Sami Sagol, Mini-Circuits, and Bezeq, This was also thanks to our leading partners at Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israel Space Agency, Weizmann Institute, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Tel Aviv University and the IDC Herzliya, which worked together with the executive committee, the organization’s management, engineers, employees, volunteers, and many others.
The achievements of SpaceIL have been internationally acclaimed, both by space experts and by the general population. The Beresheet mission excited over one million students and connected them to the study of science and technology. The SpaceIL team passionately believes in ‘inspiration through action Consequently, the team continues to plan the next journey to the moon, while also sowing the seeds for the blossoming of engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs who will become the future generation of professionals that will make dreams come true!
Mission Completed:
Beresheet 1
Beresheet 1 is Israel’s first spacecraft built by the SpaceIL Organization in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Beresheet was launched into space on February 22, 2019 and was successfully captured into an elliptical lunar orbit, a month and a half later, on April 4th.
A week after it was captured into the lunar orbit, the spacecraft received an order from the control room in Yehud and commenced the process of landing on the moon. During the landing process, a number of malfunctions were discovered that led to a hard landing at a speed of 1 km. per second onto the moon’s surface.
The Next Mission: Beresheet 2
Beresheet 2 is Israel’s second spacecraft whose development started at SpaceIL. The team, headed by the organization’s CEO, together with content specialists, has defined the mission for the Beresheet 2 spacecraft. The mission set a new bar of challenges and is based on the knowledge, experience and learning from the Beresheet 1 Project.
Lectures for Adults
SpaceIL’s amazing journey to the moon began with a dream of three young men and continued thanks to the resourcefulness of many other good people who joined the journey. It was a journey packed with adventures and challenges, offering an unforgettable lesson in how to make dreams in to realities. In addition to the international breaking through to deep space with the first private entity in the world to reach the moon, the road was also paved to believe in making the ‘impossible’ come true. This insight served as fuel for the continuation of the journey – a journey that began with three determined dreamers and continued to enter the hearts of millions of young people in Israel and around the world.
You can hear about this journey and more in the organization’s special lecture that is given to communities, companies and organization.
Moreover, the Organization takes part in seminars and teacher training programs to make connections within the teachers’ community, to learn its needs, to become enriched by its experience and to provide knowledge and tools that will make the teachers’ work easier when raising a new generation of entrepreneurs.
The Organization produces materials for pupils, parents and teachers, in order to encourage the younger generation to take an interest, to learn and overcome challenges on their way to achieving the goal.
Thanks to the wealth of knowledge and experience of its creative partners, the Organization receives many opportunities to take part in and contribute to the educational activity: including game-based learning, enrichment for teaching tools, educational workshops, extra-curricular scientific activities, material for preschool, etc.
We believe in Big Dreams. Great actions. And pursuit of the goal all the way to the moon and beyond)
Education
SpaceIL strives to serve as a source of inspiration for Israel’s future generation, in order to encourage teenagers to think in the direction of science, engineering and entrepreneurship. Moreover, our goal is to introduce the younger generation to the exciting opportunities that arise from the courage to dream and the determination to make that dream a reality. SpaceIL has adhered to a proactive educational and learning approach in the field, with an emphasis on activity. We consider education to be a supreme value and we promote diverse channels in this field.
The organization works to spread the story of Beresheet, to encourage scientific intrepidness and the taking of steps to make dreams a reality. Thanks to our reserve of dedicated volunteer, the story of SpaceIL and the Beresheet spacecraft has reached tens of thousands of classrooms and over one million pupils.
Scheduling Lectures for Preschools and Grades 1 – 12
SpaceIL’s educational vision is to create a new Israeli Apollo Effect: To encourage Israel’s next generation to choose to study science, engineering, technology and mathematics. The SpaceIL lecture is given by one of our volunteer lecturers and tells the story of the organization’s establishment and goal, as well as two main emphases:
The first emphasis is to convey information regarding the SpaceIL’s ‘mission’ (the first and second) – and about the spacecraft, space and the importance of the mission on a scientific and international/Israeli level.
The second emphasis stems from the Organization’s philosophy and is designed to inspire the children to choose to investigate and study the fields of science and technology by conveying a message of excellence, entrepreneurship and innovation that asserts that with the help of knowledge, tools and intrepidness, anyone can breakthrough new barriers and the sky is not the limit.
