2023-08-16 09:49:00
The first Russian lunar probe launched in nearly 50 years, Luna-25, is due to reach orbit of the Moon on Wednesday, according to the schedule of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Image released by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, on August 11, 2023, of the takeoff of the Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Luna-25 lunar probe, in Vostochny
The first Russian device to the lunar ground since 1976
Expected launch of the Russian lunar probe Luna-25 – Gallery
Image released by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, on August 11, 2023, of the takeoff of the Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Luna-25 lunar probe, in Vostochny
The first Russian device to the lunar ground since 1976
The probe will then revolve around the Moon, 100 kilometers from its surface, before its scheduled landing on Monday north of the Bogouslavsky crater, on the lunar south pole, according to the agency.
Sunday, the cameras installed on the probe made the first photos from space, where we can see elements of the probe with, in the distance, the Earth and the Moon, announced Roscosmos.
The probe of nearly 800 kilos carried by a Soyuz rocket took off on the night of August 10 to 11 from the Vostotchny cosmodrome in the Far East.
The probe, which will have to stay on the Moon for a year, will have the task of taking samples and analyzing the soil of the Moon.
“For the first time in history, the moon landing will be carried out on the lunar south pole. Until now, everyone landed in the equatorial zone,” said a senior official of Roscosmos, Alexandre Blokhine, in a recent interview with the official newspaper Rossiïskaïa Gazeta.
The launch of the Luna-25 probe is the first lunar mission for Moscow since 1976, when the USSR was a pioneer in the conquest of space.
The mission is intended to give new impetus to the Russian space sector, which has been struggling for years due to funding problems and corruption scandals, and now isolated due to the conflict in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin has promised to continue Russia’s space program despite sanctions, citing the example of the USSR sending the first man into space in 1961, amid escalating East-West tensions.
Image released by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, on August 11, 2023, of the takeoff of the Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Luna-25 lunar probe, in Vostochny
Introducing the first Russian lander sent to the Moon in almost 50 years
AFP
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