An Israeli spacecraft on its maiden¹ mission to the moon has sent its first selfie back to Earth, mission chiefs said on Tuesday.

 

以色列一艘航天器在飞往月球的初次航程中向地球发回首张自拍。
 

 

The image showing part of the Beresheet spacecraft with Earth in the background was beamed to mission control in Yehud, Israel -- 37,600 kilometres (23,360 miles) away, the project's lead partners said in a statement.

 

The partners, NGO SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace² Industries, launched the unmanned Beresheet -- Hebrew for Genesis -- from Cape³ Canaveral in Florida on February 22.

 

The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) craft took off atop a Falcon⁴ 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company of entrepreneur Elon Musk⁵.

 

The trip is scheduled to last seven weeks, with the Beresheet due to touch down on April 11.

 

So far, only Russia, the United States and China have made the 384,000-kilometre (239,000-mile) journey and landed on the moon.

 

The Israeli mission comes amid renewed global interest in the moon, 50 years after American astronauts first walked on its surface.

点击收听单词发音