Russia's 1st Moon Mission In 47 Years Fails As Luna-25 Spacecraft Crashes

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon, reports Germany's DW News citing space corporation Roskosmos.

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon, reports Germany's DW News citing space corporation Roskosmos.

Source : Getty

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. According to Russia's space corporation, Roskosmos, the unmanned robot lander crashed after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit. "The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon," Roskosmos said in a statement, as quoted by news agency Reuters.

 

This comes after an "abnormal situation" occurred on Saturday at Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft during a manoeuvre as it was preparing to transfer to its pre-landing orbit, Russia's national space agency Roskosmos said, as reported by the news agency Reuters. The Russian spacecraft is scheduled to land on the south pole of the moon on Monday.

"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," Roskosmos said in a short statement, as quoted by Reuters. Specialists are analysing the situation, it said.

Earlier, Roskosmos stated that it had received the first results from the Luna-25 mission and that they were being analysed. The space agency also shared images of the moon's Zeeman crater, which were taken from the spacecraft. As per Reuters, the crater is the third deepest in the moon's southern hemisphere, measuring 190 km (118 miles) in diameter and eight km (five miles) in depth.

Luna 25 was the first Soviet lunar exploration spacecraft that was launched after 47 years. Luna 24, which took off into space on August 14, 1976, was the last Soviet lunar mission to be launched. Since Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Luna 25 is the first lunar exploration mission of modern Russia. 

The Soyuz-2 Fregat launch vehicle launched the 800-kilogram Roscosmos’s Luna 25 spacecraft from Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia, on August 10, 2023, at 23:10 UTC (August 11, 2023, at 4:40 am IST). 

Subscribe And Follow ABP Live On Telegram: https://t.me/officialabplive