MOSCOW: Russia’s first Moon mission in almost half a century crashed during a pre-landing.
Russian space agency Roscosmos statement on Sunday that Luna-25 met an accident during landing on Saturday and all communication was lost at 2:57 pm (11:57 GMT)
The preliminary findings from the Russian space agency state that the landing pod ceased to exist following a touchdown with the moon’s surface and efforts so far have been unsuccessful in locating the spacecraft.
“Investigation will be initiated to know the causes of the crash,” the statement from the space agency read.
Luna-25 was the star project of Russia with the objective of gaining the legacy that it held in the Soviet era.
Luna-25 weighing an 800-kilogram probe was sent into space to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole.
Russia has not made an attempt after 1989 as earlier attempts failed on missions to the moon and Mars failed owing to computer malfunction.
