Russia’s first Moon Mission after almost 50 years
The luna-25 probe, Russia’s first Moon mission in almost 50 years, has crashed on the moon after an incident during pre-landing manoeuvers, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on August 20. Communication with Luna-25 was lost at 2:57 pm (1157 GMT) on Saturday, Roscosmos said in a statement. According to preliminary findings, the lander “has ceased to exist following a collision with Moon’s surface”.
On August 20, a “abnormal situation” happened as it prepared to move to its pre-landing orbit.
“During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the manoeuvre to be performed with the specified parameters,” Roscosmos stated in a brief statement.
Russia Space Dominance History
Failure for the prestige mission highlights Russia’s decline in space power since the glory days of Cold War competition, when Moscow was the first to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth — Sputnik 1 in 1957 — and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961.
Russia 1976 Luna-24 Project
Russia has not attempted a lunar mission since the 1976 Luna-24 project, when Leonid Brezhnev was in charge of the Kremlin. According to Russian space officials, Luna-25 was scheduled to make a gentle landing on the moon’s south pole on August 21.
Russia has been racing against China and the United States, both of which have advanced lunar goals, as well as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which is due to settle on the moon’s south pole this week.