Russia Launches Luna 25, its First Lunar Lander in 47 Years
Russia has successfully launched Luna 25, its first lunar lander in 47 years. The uncrewed spacecraft, also known as Luna-Glob-Lander, took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Russia. The launch took place at 8:10 a.m. local time on Friday.
Luna 25 was transported to the launchpad on a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket. The spacecraft is expected to enter an orbit around Earth before transferring to a lunar orbit and eventually descending to the moon’s surface. The mission aims to study the composition of the moon’s polar soil and the plasma and dust in its thin atmosphere.
Residents of a Russian village were temporarily evacuated as there was a “one in a million chance” that one of Luna 25’s rocket stages could fall in the area. However, no incidents were reported during the launch.
Luna 25 will race against India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to land at the lunar south pole on August 23. Despite the competition, the two missions are not expected to interfere with each other as their landing zones differ.
The previous Russian lunar lander, Luna 24, landed on the moon in 1976. Luna 25’s successful launch marks an important milestone for Russia’s space program.
Initially, Russia and the European Space Agency had planned to partner on Luna 25, as well as Luna 26, Luna 27, and the ExoMars rover. However, the partnership was discontinued in April 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
NASA also has plans to land a woman and a person of color on the moon for the first time during the Artemis III mission in late 2025. The moon’s south pole is of particular interest due to its potential resources, such as ice that could be used for drinking water, oxygen, and fuel.
The launch of Luna 25 showcases the renewed interest in lunar exploration and the potential for sustainable space exploration in the future. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson expressed his well wishes for the mission and highlighted the cooperative relationship between NASA and Roscosmos dating back to the Soviet era.
As Luna 25 embarks on its mission, scientists and space agencies around the world eagerly await the valuable data and insights it will provide about the moon and its resources.