Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft failed to land on the Moon, Roscosmos, Russia’s state-run space corporation, announced today. In a statement, the organization reported that the lander “ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon.” It would’ve been the country’s first Moon landing since 1976. Luna-25 entered orbit around the Moon last week, and was meant to orbit for just five days before landing on Monday, August 21st, but over the weekend, Roscosmos said it was analyzing a “technical glitch” that occurred as it was preparing the craft to move to a pre-landing orbit. Now the organization says Luna-25 has been lost. Russia was pushing to beat India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to land on the Moon. That spacecraft also made lunar orbit this month, and the country’s space agency, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), tweeted this morning that Chandrayaan-3 is set for its own Moon landing on August 23rd. India plans for it to set down on the Moon’s south pole — the same region of the surface targeted by Luna-25 — on August 23rd. If successful, it will be the first spacecraft to land on the Moon’s south pole. Luna-25’s mission, after landing, was to study the Moon’s south pole ice to gain insight into the satellite’s formation.
Full story : Russia’s Luna-25 space craft ‘ceased to exist’ after colliding with the Moon.
