Luna-25 lander's crash: Russian space agency break silence on cause of mishap, says ‘decades of inactivity…'
Also read: Russia's Luna 25 crashes on moon's surface ahead of Chandrayaan-3's landing This mission was Russia's first lunar attempt since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union. The United States, the Soviet Union, and China are the only countries to have achieved successful moon landings. Borisov attributed the mission's failure to the interruption of Russia's lunar program for nearly 50 years.
“The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for almost 50 years is the main reason for the failures," said Borisov. He emphasised that ending the program now "would be the worst decision ever" for Russia. Luna-25 had been in competition with an Indian spacecraft launched on July 14 to be the first to reach the moon's south pole.
Both were expected to land on the moon between August 21 and 23. Also read: Chandrayaan-3 LIVE updates: Can landing be postponed? Here's what ISRO says Luna-25's launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a key part of President Vladimir Putin's space ambitions, to make Russia a space superpower . Following the crash, the Russian space agency indicated that the moon mission was essential for long-term “defence capability" and “technological sovereignty." The lunar south pole is of great scientific interest because researchers believe that the permanently shadowed polar craters could contain frozen water, a vital resource for future space exploration, including potential air and rocket fuel production.
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