The Luna-25 probe will orbit the Moon at an altitude of 100km before its planned landing on August 21 north of the Boguslawsky crater at the Moon's south pole.
The Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Lunar Probe Luna-25 was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East, Russia, on August 11. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced that Russia's Luna-25 lander on August 16 was successfully put into lunar orbit.
The probe is expected to orbit the Moon at an altitude of 100km before a planned landing on August 21 north of the Boguslawsky crater at the Moon's south pole.
According to a Roscosmos spokesman, all systems of the Lunar Probe Luna-25 are operating normally and communication with the spacecraft is stable. The cameras installed on the ship captured images of the Earth and Moon from a distance in space.
Russia launched the Lunar Probe Luna-25 into space at dawn on August 11 local time. The launch was carried out at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East of Russia. This move marks the restart of Russia's lunar exploration program after nearly 8 years.
Luna-25's mission is to test soft landing technologies on the lunar poles and conduct internal structural studies and exploration of resources, including water. Luna-25's science mission is expected to last one year.
The previous Russian probe, Luna-24, was launched into space in 1976. This event entered the history of world space exploration when samples taken from the Moon at that time proved the presence. of water on Earth's only natural satellite.
After Luna-25, Russia plans to launch Luna-26 and Luna-27 in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
According to VNA
