Russia launched its first mission to the surface of the Moon in nearly half a century, in a bid to be the first country to land on the lunar south pole.
Moscow’s Luna 25 mission lifted off on schedule from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.
The Moon’s south pole is believed to hold deposits of water.
The Russian mission is racing against India, which sent up its own lander last month that is already orbiting the Moon.
Russia’s space chief told Interfax the lander is expected to touch down on 21 August. As of earlier this week, India’s Chandrayaan-3’s spacecraft was due to reach the surface on 23 August.
A rush job from Russia?
If all goes according to plan, Luna-25 will spend the next five days journeying to the moon, then circle the natural satellite for another five to seven days. The spacecraft will then set down in the moon’s south polar region, near Boguslawsky Crater. (Two backup landing spots are also in play: southwest of Manzini Crater and south of Pentland A Crater.)
Once down safe and sound, Luna-25 will work on the lunar surface for at least one Earth year.
It took longer than expected for Luna-25 to get off the ground; its liftoff was delayed for nearly two years.
One major countdown-delaying issue was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. The European Space Agency (ESA) had been set to provide the Pilot-D navigation camera, built specifically to help Luna-25 make a precision landing on the moon. Due to the invasion, however, ESA canceled the camera cooperation, along with a number of other collaborative space projects.
But getting Luna-25 on its way to the moon remained a priority, one highlighted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an April 2022 visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome, he said the sanctions placed on Russia by the U.S., the European Union and others would not deter the nation from carrying out space exploration.
