Russia Launches Moon Mission After 50 Years

Russia is on its way to the moon for the first time in almost 50 years, and aims to be the first to soft land on the coveted south pole of our satellite, beating the US, China, and others to the punch.

Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, launched the Luna-25 mission on Friday morning from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, Reuters reported. The last one was in 1976.

The Soyuz-2.1b rocket is carrying a lander, which Roscosmos will try to land on the south pole of the moon on August 21, Reuters reported.

If successful, it would be the first mission to achieve a soft landing on the south pole of the moon, and the robotic lander would collect crucial information over the next year. A soft landing is one in which the lander doesn't explode.

But these are risky missions with a tendency to fail. 11 August 2023