Can a scrappy Israeli nonprofit land on the moon on a $100 million shoestring? Tonight it took the first step as it launched and then set off on a long journey to the lunar surface.

Until now, only three nations — the United States, former Soviet Union and China — have sent robotic landers to the moon. Beginning in 2007, a competition run by the X Prize Foundation and financed by Google was supposed to spur entrepreneurs to send a privately financed spacecraft there, but the competition deadline passed without anyone taking home the $20 million grand prize.

SpaceIL, based in Israel, was one of the finalists and continued its efforts even though there was no money to win. On Thursday night, its spacecraft lifted off on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Florida.