Africa-Press – Mauritius. Russia’s Luna-25 automatic landing module will make a soft landing at moon’s South Pole on August 21, Yuri Borisov, the head of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, said Friday.
“Now we will wait for [August] 21st. I hope that a high-precision soft landing on the moon will happen,” Borisov told the launch crew after the takeoff.
A Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years, Luna-25, took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East earlier Friday.
The Fregat upper stage, carrying the module, has already reached Earth’s orbit and separated from the rocket. Fregat will soon turn on its thrusters twice and send the spacecraft on a flight trajectory to the moon.
Roscosmos has indicated the module is scheduled to enter lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles) on August 16, and make a soft landing at moon’s South Pole in the area north of the Boguslawsky crater on August 21.
The next iterations of Russia’s Luna stations are slated to be launched in 2027, 2028 and 2030, according to Borisov. The Roscosmos chief added that Russia and China will move toward the “possibility” of a manned landing on the moon and the construction of a lunar base after the launch of the Luna-28 mission in 2030.
After the landing, the mission will collect lunar soil samples and examine them for the presence of ice. The primary objectives of the mission will also include the testing of Russia’s latest designs of space equipment.
Luna-25 is part of the Russian lunar program for the exploration and practical use of the moon and its orbit to establish a fully automated lunar base.
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