Russia announces the launch of a spacecraft to the moon, a first since 1976

2023-08-07 15:33:22

Like an air of cold war. In full invasion of Ukraine and in tension with the West, including the United States, Russia looks to the stars. The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced the launch on Friday of its first spacecraft to the Moon since 1976, while it has struggled for decades to carry out its own projects. The launch of the Luna-25 lander will take place “on August 11 at 02:10:57 Moscow time,” Roscosmos said in a statement, as world powers such as the United States and China step up moon landing missions.

Roscosmos said a Soyuz launcher had been “assembled” at the Vostotchny Cosmodrome in the Far East for the launch of Luna-25, which will land near the South Pole of the Moon, “in difficult terrain”. The flight is expected to last between “four and a half and five and a half days”, according to data published by Roscosmos and quoted by the official Tass news agency. Once on the Moon, Luna-25, which weighs nearly 800 kilograms, will have the mission for at least a year to “sample and analyze the soil and conduct long-term scientific research”, said the Russian space agency. in its official press release.

Getting closer to Beijing

This launch is the first mission of Russia’s new lunar program and comes at a time when Moscow wishes in particular to strengthen its space cooperation with Beijing. After the launch of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, the European Space Agency (ESA) said it would no longer cooperate with Russia on the launch of Luna-25, nor on future missions 26 and 27 Despite the withdrawal, Moscow had said it would continue its lunar projects and replace ESA equipment with Russian-made science equipment.

The last lunar mission of the USSR was that of the Luna-24 space probe, in 1976. Since the fall of the USSR, Moscow has struggled to innovate in the field of space exploration and its programs now face competition not only from state actors but also by private initiatives, such as SpaceX, by billionaire Elon Musk.