Russia’s highly anticipated moon mission, the first in 47 years, encountered a problem while attempting to enter the pre-landing orbit. As a result, there are concerns that the lunar craft, Luna-25, may be lost.
The state space corporation, Roskosmos, reported an “abnormal situation” during the maneuver to move the craft into the pre-landing orbit on Saturday. The planned touchdown, scheduled for Monday, is now uncertain.
Roskosmos stated that specialists are currently analyzing the situation but no further updates have been provided since Saturday. Despite repeated phone calls, the corporation has not responded to requests for comments.
Unverified Russian-language Telegram channels have reported a loss of communication with the craft, and the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper cited an unidentified specialist who suggested that the craft may indeed be lost.
If the mission fails, it will underscore Russia’s decline in space power since the Cold War era when it achieved significant milestones like launching the first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957, and sending the first human, Yuri Gagarin, to space in 1961.
Russia has not attempted a moon mission since Luna-24 in 1976. Luna-25 was intended to execute a soft landing on the moon’s south pole on August 21, adding to the ongoing race with India’s Chandrayaan-3 and the lunar ambitions of China and the United States.
The severity of the “abnormal situation” and the possibility of saving the mission are unclear from official sources.
Alexander Ivanov, the first deputy director of Roskosmos, who oversees orbital group projects, held an emergency meeting on the situation on Saturday evening, further suggesting the seriousness of the setback.
If the mission is indeed lost, it will exert additional pressure on Russia’s high-technology sectors, already strained by Western sanctions in response to the conflict in Ukraine.