SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries told a news conference that the landing craft — dubbed "Beresheet," or Genesis — will take off from Florida, propelled by a SpaceX Falcon rocket on its weekslong voyage to the moon.

The launch is scheduled late Thursday in the United States, early Friday in Israel. It had been originally slated for last December.

SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby and Opher Doron, general manager of the IAI's space division, said the spacecraft will slingshot around the Earth at least six times in order to reach the moon and land on its surface on April 11.

If the SpaceIL mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the Soviet Union, United States and China.