It was one small message for Israel.
Israel, which failed in its bid to land its spacecraft softly on the moon, got a shoutout from someone who fared much better — famed astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the lunar surface.
“Condolences to the Beresheet lander @TeamSpaceIL for what almost was!” the 89-year-old veteran of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 said on Twitter on Thursday.
“Communications were lost with the spacecraft just 150 meters (!!!) above the surface, and it couldn’t quite stick the landing. Never lose hope – your hard work, teamwork, and innovation is inspiring to all! “ he added.
Almost a half-century ago, his commander, Neil Armstrong, uttered the immortal words “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” when he set foot on the Sea of Tranquility.
Beresheet — which means “Genesis” in Hebrew — crashed on the moon after its main engine failed during landing procedures Thursday night, bringing its 4 million-mile journey and the dreams of the Jewish state to an unexpected end.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine also congratulated Israel for its success in putting a craft into lunar orbit.
“While NASA regrets the end of the SpaceIL mission without a successful lunar landing of the Beresheet lander, we congratulate SpaceIL, the Israel Aerospace Industries and the state of Israel on the incredible accomplishment of sending the first privately funded mission into lunar orbit,” Bridenstine said in a statement.
“Every attempt to reach new milestones holds opportunities for us to learn, adjust and progress. I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore and I look forward to celebrating their future achievements,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will try again.
“We reached the moon but we want to land more softly and this will be on the next attempt. This very attempt is a tremendous achievement and I think that you see by all the applause here that we really are the fourth country to reach it. We will be the fourth country to land on the moon if we persist,” Bibi said.
Israel can still claim the title of seventh country to make lunar orbit, and the fourth to reach the lunar surface — though not in one piece.