Israel successfully launches first moon lander

Staff members with the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) monitor the launch of Israel's spacecraft Beresheet at the IAI control room in Israel's central town of Yahud on Feb. 22, 2019. Israel's first spacecraft designed to land on the moon was successfully launched from the U.S. Kennedy Space Center early on Friday morning, Israeli officials said. The dishwasher-size lander, dubbed Beresheet, or Genesis in Hebrew, was launched at 8:45 p.m. local time on Thursday (0145 GMT Friday) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (Xinhua/Tomer Neuberg-JINI)