The Luna-25 probe, Russia's first Moon mission in 47 years, has crashed on the Moon after an incident during pre-landing manoeuvres, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday.
After a 47-year hiatus, Russia's return to lunar exploration suffered a major setback as the Luna-25 spacecraft lost control and crashed onto the moon's surface. Roskosmos, the state space corporation, disclosed that contact with the craft was severed shortly after it encountered complications while maneuvering into a pre-landing orbit on a Saturday.
In a statement, Roskosmos lamented, "The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon."
Official statement from Russia: moon lander has crashed on the lunar surface.
A sad day for science & the Roscosmos team, very much like it was for ISRO/Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.
Now all eyes on India’s Vikram, scheduled to land on Aug 23 @ 5.45pm. 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/twmT41KpQE
This failure underscores the significant challenges facing Russia's space program and serves as a stark reminder of the decline in its space capabilities since the heady days of the Cold War. During that era, Russia achieved historic milestones, such as launching the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957 and sending Yuri Gagarin as the first human into space in 1961.
Remarkably, Russia had refrained from moon missions since Luna-24 in 1976, a period characterized by Leonid Brezhnev's leadership. Luna-25 had been on a mission to execute a soft landing on the moon's south pole, with the intended date set for August 21, as communicated by Russian space officials.
Russia's endeavors in space have been in fierce competition with other nations, particularly India, whose Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft had its own moon landing mission slated for around the same time. Furthermore, Russia faces formidable competition from China and the United States, both of which harbor ambitious lunar exploration plans.
Meanwhile, a meme fest exploded on X, formerly known as Twitter, with several Indians now awaiting to see the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon on August 23 at around 6:04 pm.
Project Luna 25 Epta pic.twitter.com/V1JQTQQWYO
— Котячий блекаут (@Cringecurve)Aisa lander hoga toh crash hona hi hai 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/1WCrrykzRp
— Mr. Razor (@Work_n_Workout)Chandrayaan-3 > Luna 25
— Kim S. Kristensen (@kimskris)Russia 's crashes onto moon 's surface.
Indians after hearing the news. | pic.twitter.com/7V59LEINTB
Luna-25 Crashed..!!💔 https://t.co/byYDCeIKA4
— Dhananjay Patkulkar (@DPatkulkar)Russian Roskosmos: We made it! Ok fire rockets and decelerate into a gentle Moon orbit.
Luna 25: pic.twitter.com/e2DRTGbqh9
What shietty Luna 25 doing? 🤡🤡🤡 pic.twitter.com/dRwJBt2Y9L
— froggo (@froggo88495874)Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon. Looks like Mercury in retrograde hit a few days early. India still have to land their craft pic.twitter.com/KDnR0QEozq
— Sir Stephen of Wokery (Alfalfa Male) 🐟 🌟 (@lokiesteve)Who wants to be in the shoes of the Luna25 Team's members right now? pic.twitter.com/gB7XhjRtMk
— Andy 🇮🇹🇺🇦 (@Montferrat)Good luck next time Russia. pic.twitter.com/utGUDov0an
— Ram Negi رام نیگی (@ram_negi)Походу не помогло pic.twitter.com/Z7425R1NFz
— Alex Svan (@AlexSvanArt)Luna-25 was heralded by the Kremlin "as the first automatic interplanetary station modern history."
● Memes on a postcard to Putin's space agency pic.twitter.com/rzBFbkwBGB
Luna 25 s'est posée alors ou crashée ? J'ai pas suivi. pic.twitter.com/BQ6WglRKv6
— Guinard Georges🇫🇷☸🙏🖖😺🐮🦧 (@GeorgesGuinard)Crashed....!! pic.twitter.com/Ixn5k8Q0al
— Soumya Reporter (@ReporterS585332)