Russia: The Luna-25 spacecraft reached a 100 km orbit around the Moon on August 16 at 2:27 PM IST. The thrusters fired twice to capture the spacecraft in the Moon’s gravity. Actuated the adjusting brake thruster for 243 seconds. Then the soft landing thrusters were fired for 76 seconds.
This spacecraft will make a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon on 21 August. It was launched by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos on August 11 aboard a Soyuz 2.1B rocket from Vostony Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast. This place is about 5,550 km east of Moscow.
Luna-25 was sent from Earth’s orbit to the Moon on the same day. Then on August 12 and 14, the spacecraft adjusted its path by firing the thrusters twice.
Russia has sent its mission to the moon after 47 years. Earlier in 1976, it had sent the Luna-24 mission. Luna-24 returned safely to Earth with about 170 grams of lunar dust. All lunar missions so far have reached the Moon’s equator, this will be the first time that a mission will land on the Moon’s south pole.
Russia’s Luna-25 mission is part of its program to build a fully automated base on the Moon. Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told that three more missions to Luna will be launched in 2027, 2028, and 2030. After that, we will enter the next phase with China. In this phase, we will send a manned mission to Moon and also make the lunar base.