Russia's first lunar mission in modern history, the $130 million Luna-25 mission, ended with the crash of the interplanetary station during a landing on the Moon

Luna-25 was the first lunar mission in the history of modern russia. The $130 million programme ended with the crash of the automatic station.

Here's What We Know

On 11 August, the Luna-25 interplanetary station launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome. On 19 August at 02:20 (EDT) or 23:20 (PDT), the spacecraft made an orbit correction. The manoeuvre lasted 40 seconds and went on as normal.

At the time of the orbit correction, communication with the interplanetary station was stable and all systems were working. However, less than five hours later, an abnormal situation occurred during the transition to the pre-landing orbit, and about an hour later, communication was interrupted. As a result, Luna-25 was unable to perform the manoeuvre with the set parameters.

Russian specialists tried to take measures to eliminate the malfunction, but all attempts were futile. Eventually, Luna-25 entered an uncalculated orbit and was destroyed by collision with the surface of the Moon.

Source: @roscosmos_gk