Topline Russia launched a rocket carrying the Luna-25 spacecraft Friday, marking its first attempt to land an object on the moon’s surface in nearly 50 years, as the country attempts to flex its independent prowess in space exploration after being hit by major international sanctions last year following its invasion of Ukraine.
In this image made from video released by Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket … [+] with the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station takes off from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.
Roscosmos State Space Corporation Key Facts The Luna-25 spacecraft was launched onboard a Soyuz 2.1 rocket at Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s far east, early on Friday.
Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said the spacecraft is expected to land on the moon on August 21, state-run news agency TASS reported.
If the spacecraft is able to stay on schedule, Russia would become the first country to make a successful lunar landing in 2023 and the first ever to do so near the Moon’s south pole.
Luna-25 is in a race with India’s Chandrayaan-3 (Mooncraft-3), which was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation last month and is on course to make a landing near the south pole on August 23.
Surprising Fact While the U.S. Apollo 11 mission was the first to put a person on the moon in 1969, the first spacecraft to successfully reach the moon’s surface was the Russian Luna-2, ten years earlier in 1959. Russia’s last moon lander mission prior to Friday’s launch was the Luna-24 unmanned spacecraft, which collected samples from the moon and returned to Earth, back in 1976.
Key Background The Luna-25 mission coincides with a resurgence in interest in the lunar surface, particularly the south pole, which is believed to hold small frozen pockets of water. Aside from Russia and India, the U.S. and China are locked in the race to explore the Moon’s south pole. NASA Artemis mission aims to send a crewed spacecraft to the moon’s surface sometime around 2025, with areas near the south pole as planned landing sites. China’s space agency plans to send a rover to the lunar south pole sometime later this decade, followed by a crewed mission in 2030. NASA Chief Bill Nelson has raised alarms about the Chinese program warning that Beijing could claim control of the Moon’s south pole the same way it does with the South China Sea.
Further Reading India’s Ambitious Moon Mission Cost Less Than Hollywood Space Films—Here’s What You Need To Know (Forbes)