Luna-25: Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into moon, declared mission failed

Russia’s first moon mission in 47 years failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft smashed into the moon on Aug 20. Roskosmos, Russia’s space corporation, said it had lost contact with the craft shortly after a problem occurred. This development came soon after the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit on Aug 19. An incident occurred, while the spacecraft was trying to enter a pre-landing orbit according to Roscosmos. Interestingly, Russia had not attempted a moon mission since Luna-24 in 1976. Luna-25 was supposed to execute a soft landing on the south pole of the moon on Aug 21, as per Russian space officials. Meanwhile, India’s third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 is on track. Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023 (Wednesday). The spacecraft is now just three days away from its final destination, the moon’s south pole.