Luna-25: Russia's First Moon Mission In 47 Years Ends In A Crash

Russia's first moon mission in 47 years failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and smashed into the moon.

In a statement, Roskosmos, the country's state space corporation, said that it had lost contact with the craft shortly after a problem occurred as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit on Saturday.

Russia's state space corporation, Roskosmos, said it had lost contact with the craft shortly after a problem occurred as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit on Saturday. "On August 19, in accordance with the Luna-25 flight programme, an impulse was provided to form its pre-landing elliptical orbit. At about 14:57 Moscow time, communication with the Luna-25 apparatus was interrupted. The measures taken on August 19 and 20 to search for the device and get in contact with it did not produce any results," Roscosmos State Space Corporation said on its official Telegram channel.

"The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon," Roskosmos added.

It was expected to execute a soft landing on the south pole of the moon on August 21, Reuters reported citing Russian space officials.

This is the first moon mission of Russia since Luna-24 in 1976.

The setback in the prestigious mission highlights Russia's waning influence in space exploration since the heyday of Cold War rivalry. During that era, Moscow achieved significant milestones such as launching the pioneering satellite Sputnik 1 into Earth's orbit in 1957 and sending Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as the first human to venture into space in 1961.

Russia was in competition with India, as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft from India is set to touch down on the moon's southern pole this week. Additionally, Russia is in a broader rivalry with China and the United States, both of which possess ambitious lunar exploration plans.