Earlier today, Russia’s lunar spacecraft Luna 25 lifted off from the Russian spaceport Vostochny Cosmodrome, and in the clip here, you can see how it looked.
It will be the first time in 47 years that Russia undertakes a lunar mission, and this time, the goal is to land at the Moon’s South Pole. Luna 25’s lunar lander is intended to land at the Boguslavsky crater near the Moon’s South Pole. Onboard the lander are instruments designed to scoop up and analyze materials found there.
The mission’s hope is, among other things, to discover ice, something that could be useful when humans eventually settle on the Moon permanently. Russia plans to land Luna 25’s lunar lander on the Moon on August 21st. This is two days earlier than the Indian lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 plans to do the same.
So far, no nation has successfully accomplished a soft landing at the Moon’s South Pole. If all goes according to Russia’s plans, it appears they will be the first to achieve this. The Indian lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 attempted a soft landing at the Moon’s South Pole in 2019 but failed.
In the embedded post below, you can see how the Soyuz rocket that launched Luna 25 into space was rolled out to the launchpad at Vostochny Cosmodrome.
