Israeli probe Beresheet performs critical manoeuvre to enter lunar orbit a week before landing

An Israeli spacecraft bound for the Moon has entered lunar orbit after performing a crucial manoeuvre ahead of a landing scheduled for next Thursday.

The Beresheet probe was captured by the Moon’s gravity and began orbiting Earth’s only natural satellite at 3.18pm UK time on Thursday.

The manoeuvre placed the probe into an elliptical cycle that will bring the craft to within 500 km of the lunar surface at its closest point.

Morris Kahn, chairman of SpaceIL, the organisation that launched the probe, said it made him “proud to be an Israeli.”

“The lunar capture is an historic event in and of itself,” he said, “but it also joins Israel in a seven-nation club that has entered the Moon’s orbit.

“A week from today we’ll make more history by landing on the Moon, joining three super powers who have done so.”

If Beresheet lands successfully, it will make Israel the fourth country to reach the surface of the Moon after Russia, the United States and China.

After Thursday’s manoeuvre Israel becames only the seventh country to send a probe into lunar orbit — joining Japan, India and the European Space Agency.

The probe is one of the smallest ever to be launched, measuring 1.5 metres by 2 metres and weighing just 600 kg.

Costing $100 million (£76.6 million), it describes itself as the lowest-costing Moon mission in history.