ill We Make It?

April 11, 2019

Israel Aerospace Industries, Yehud, Israel

The control room is mostly quiet, which is eerie considering how many engineers, technicians, and scientists are in the room, sitting at their work stations. They’re all wearing headphones so they can communicate with their teams without disturbing each other. Several cameramen are recording this moment for posterity.

Overlooking the control room is an observation room. With theatre-style seating, the observation room provides a front-row seat to one of the State of Israel’s most important technological achievements to date: the moon-landing of the Beresheet spacecraft. The room is filled with dozens of officials and dignitaries who have been invited to watch the final moments of the mission. Among them are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Ambassadors David Friedman and Morris Kahn, the South African-Israeli billionaire who provided most of the funding for the project.

Ofer Doron, a manager at IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries), is providing a running commentary for the benefit of those watching. “We’re about to start the landing process,” he exclaims. “Twenty-five minutes to landing!”

The excitement in the room is palpable. Several minutes later, Doron announces, “We have passed the point of no return. We are in the landing process.” Applause immediately breaks out in the observation room.

After a few moments, the spacecraft, which has already started slowing down for its descent onto the surface of the moon, takes a picture of itself with the moon clearly visible in the background. As the picture shows up on one of the huge screens in the control room, another manager enthusiastically announces that the spacecraft has taken a selfie. The spectators clap and cheer like mad. Morris Kahn looks exceptionally pleased. The technicians and engineers in the control room allow themselves to relax and enjoy this extraordinary moment. The team had been unsure if they would be able to download pictures during the landing process, so seeing this selfie in real time is very rewarding.

At this point, Doron calmly announces that there is a problem with the main engine. The crowd tenses as they realize that the mission can still end in failure.

As the managers announce that the spacecraft has lost a lot of altitude and the situation isn’t certain, everyone in the room is wondering the same thing: After all these years and all the millions of dollars, will the mission fail?

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 767)