Houston, We Made History!

By Rotem Gabay
Community Shaliach

Last month I was privileged to be part of a historic and exciting event – the launch of the first-ever Israeli spacecraft to the moon from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Some facts about the spacecraft:
• It is the product of an Israeli venture called SpaceIL. 
• The spacecraft will land on the moon on April 11th!
• The spacecraft was built at the lowest budget ever (about $100 million).
• Each part of the structure has a key role in the spacecraft’s function.
• About 75 percent of the weight that it carries is fuel.

Over the past few months, we have been learning here in Jacksonville at Torah Academy of Jacksonville and Martin J. Gottlieb Day School about Israel and the space project. Now the spacecraft has a hard disc on board filled with history and Jewish culture, and pictures from our activities in the Jacksonville community. We had the amazing opportunity to be a small part of this tremendous project!
When the spacecraft lands on the moon, Israel will become the fourth country in the world to do this (after the U.S., Russia and China)!

So next time someone asks where I was when Israel made history and headed for the moon…
I’ll say I was right there!