[ti:Israeli Spacecraft Makes History with Successful Moon Launch] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.01]An Israeli spacecraft is on its way to the moon. [00:05.10]The unmanned moon landing vehicle was launched Thursday night [00:11.74]from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the United States. [00:17.87]The private U.S. company SpaceX manufactured the Falcon 9 rocket [00:25.86]that sent the Israeli spacecraft into the night sky. [00:31.30]In addition to the robotic lander, [00:34.99]the Falcon 9 also carried two satellites into space: [00:40.24]one for Indonesia and the other for the U.S. Air Force. [00:46.09]Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watched the launch [00:52.70]from the control center of Israel Aerospace Industries, or IAI. [01:00.60]He called it "a very proud moment" for his country. [01:06.54]Israel is seeking to become only the fourth country [01:11.98]to successfully land on the moon after Russia, the U.S. and China. [01:19.20]The four-legged lunar lander is expected to arrive there in seven weeks. [01:27.12]If all goes well, the landing will happen around April 11. [01:34.18]The spacecraft is called Beresheet, [01:40.05]which is the Hebrew word for Genesis, or "In the Beginning." [01:46.16]The lander is equipped with instruments to measure [01:51.45]the moon's magnetic field and take pictures on the lunar surface. [01:57.58]In addition to being a first for Israel, [02:02.53]Beresheet would also mark the first moon landing [02:07.15]by a non-government agency. [02:10.49]Officials have said the $100 million project [02:15.41]was mostly paid for by private donors. [02:20.06]Israeli nonprofit space organization SpaceIL worked together [02:27.35]with state-owned IAI to build the 580-kilogram spacecraft. [02:35.24]An official from IAI said Beresheet is the lowest-cost spacecraft [02:43.56]to ever attempt a moon mission. [02:46.51]"The superpowers who managed to land a spacecraft [02:51.06]on the Moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars [02:55.54]in government funding," the official said. [02:59.76]China made history in January by becoming the first nation [03:06.50]to land a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon [03:10.49]– the side facing away from Earth. [03:14.07]India hopes to become the fifth country to land on the moon later this year. [03:21.82]It plans to send a spacecraft that will have an exploring vehicle [03:27.77]designed to collect moon information. [03:32.06]In other space-related news, a Japanese spacecraft touched down Friday [03:39.42]on an asteroid more than 300 million kilometers away from Earth. [03:45.97]Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency said its Hayabusa 2 spacecraft [03:54.21]successfully landed on the asteroid Ryugu. [03:59.28]Officials said the device extended a long arm [04:03.94]toward the asteroid and fired a small object into its surface. [04:09.66]The firing action was designed to produce dust [04:14.49]that will be collected and brought back to Earth for examination. [04:20.08]It was the second Japanese landing on an asteroid [04:24.66]after another spacecraft, also called Hayabusa, [04:29.69]touched down on a near-Earth asteroid in 2005. [04:34.90]That spacecraft was the first to bring asteroid dust back to Earth. [04:42.19]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM