Space IL Co-Founder Set to Inspire Newton

On July 20th, 1969, on a crackling S-band UHF frequency, American astronaut Neil Armstrong declared “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Yet, 50-years on and the world of space exploration is no longer the sole domain of governments as major private sector players jostle to explore the final frontier.

While the stakes have never been higher as tech titans Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) go head-to-head for their place in the history of human space exploration, smaller players are also vying for a cut of the action.

On February 21, 2019, SpaceIL, a $100m Israeli non-profit organization, launched a spacecraft from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The hopes and dreams of the small nation of Israel rode on their craft as it hurtled into space. On April 11th, Space IL’s spacecraft, named ‘Beresheet,’ (and Hebrew for ‘in the beginning’) attempted to land in the Mare Serenitatis region of the moon. Although Beresheet’s initial space mission had gone to plan, it all came apart as the spacecraft’s main engine malfunctioned just before it was due to land on the moon.

While SpaceIL’s goal of landing on the moon ultimately alluded them, the mission was still a success by any other measure. One of SpaceIL’s goals is to inspire the next generation of space researchers and to promote STEAM education and scientific exploration. Undoubtedly, their mission to the moon inspired a new generation of children throughout the world to dream big and aim for the stars – literally.

With Massachusetts schools ranked number one for math and reading (according to this recent study), perhaps the next man or woman to stand on the moon (or Mars), will be a Newton local?

SpaceIL Co-Founder, Yonatan Winetraub, will speak at Jewish National Fund’s annual Breakfast for Israel, set to take place on Monday, December 9th from 7.30am at the Newton Marriott.