Luna-25 spacecraft was Russia’s first Moon mission in 47 years and was scheduled to land on Monday to explore a part of the Moon which scientists think could hold frozen water and precious elements.

Luna-25 Crashes: Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years has failed after the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed onto the Moon’s surface, the country’s space agency Roscosmos announced on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, the Russian lunar lander had failed to enter its scheduled pre-landing orbit of the Moon. This was due to an abnormal situation that occurred onboard the automatic station, Roscosmos said.

Russia’s First Moon Mission In 47 Years

Luna-25 spacecraft was Russia’s first Moon mission in 47 years and was scheduled to land on Monday to explore a part of the Moon which scientists think could hold frozen water and precious elements.

Luna-25, an unmanned craft was due to make a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole but failed after encountering problems as it moved into its pre-landing orbit.

Roscosmos Lost Contact With The Luna-25 On Saturday

Roscosmos said on Sunday morning that it had lost contact with the Luna-25 shortly after 14:57 pm on Saturday. “The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon,” it said in a statement, reported BBC.

Russia has been racing to the Moon’s south pole against India, whose Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to land there on August 23.

It is worth noting that no country has ever landed on the Moon’s south pole before, although both the USA and China have landed softly on the Moon’s surface.

Soviet Union’s (USSR’s) Luna-24

It was Russia’s first moon mission since the Soviet Union’s (USSR’s) Luna-24 returned with samples from the moon in 1976.

It was launched by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos on August 11 via a Soyuz 2.1B rocket from Vostoni Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast. This place is about 5,550 km east of Moscow.

Luna-25 Reached 100 Km Orbit Of The Moon On August 16

Luna-25 spacecraft reached the 100 km orbit of the moon on August 16 at 2:27 pm Indian time. The thrusters were fired twice for the spacecraft to be captured in the Moon’s gravity, adjusting brake thruster was ignited for 243 seconds. Then the soft-landing thruster was fired for 76 seconds.

Roskosmos said in a statement that a special commission was looking into why the moonshot failed.

Luna-25 Suffered “Emergency Situation”

A few hours back, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the Luna-25 spacecraft has suffered an “emergency situation” above the moon. “Today, in accordance with the flight program, at 14:10 Moscow time, the automatic station Luna-25 gave an impulse to transfer to the pre-landing orbit. During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

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