Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

He Spent $40 Million On Israel’s Lunar Lander. It Crashed. How’s He Feeling Now?

Despite the disappointing news that the Israeli moon lander Beresheet crashed into the moon Thursday, benefactor Morris Kahn stayed positive.

“Well we didn’t make it, but we definitely tried,” Kahn, president of SpaceIL, the nonprofit responsible for the mission, told The New York Times. “And I think the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous. I think we can be proud.”

The South African-Israeli billionaire entrepreneur was the major financial backer of the $100 million project, donating $40 million himself. Other supporters included Canadian-Israeli real estate mogul Sylvan Adams, American casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Israel Aerospace Industries.

The mood in the command center in Yehud mirrored Kahn’s own, according to the Times: “somber but still celebratory.”

“We’re on the moon, just not how we wanted,” a message from the Beresheet control room read.

“If at first you don’t succeed, you try again,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said about the spacecraft’s failed landing.

Beresheet, which is Hebrew for “Genesis,” launched in February on a SpaceX rocket. It joined the moon’s orbit on a mission to land on its surface. It would’ve been the first privately funded moon landing and made Israel the fourth country to even reach it, following the United States, Soviet Union and China.

The moon lander’s computer controlled the landing process, the final stage of its nearly two-month mission, JTA reported. After initiating the landing sequence, the control room lost contact with one of the landing detectors. It ultimately crashed.

Yet it doesn’t diminish the initial excitement. A plaque on the lander read: “small country, big dreams” and “Am Yisrael Chai,” — the people of Israel live.

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.