Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into moon

Russia’s first moon mission in 47 years failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft smashed into 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.

Luna-25 took off from the Vostochny launch facility in Russia’s Far East, the Russia-based TASS news agency reported.

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-day away from its final destination, the moon’s south pole.