Israel headed to the Moon this evening.

[PHC1]

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will deliver the Israeli "Beresheet" moon rover into orbit this evening. This makes the small and privately funded SpaceIL the first private company to attempt to get to the moon. The budget was a rather modest $100M

After the Beresheet is in orbit, it will have to make the rest of the journey on its own at a rather leisurely pace which will take a few months.

The Falcon 9 launch can be viewed live here... Liftoff is scheduled for 8:45pm ET https://youtu.be/XS0E35aYJcU