Luna-25, Russia’s first lunar lander in nearly fifty years, has been successfully put into lunar orbit. This was announced by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
“For the first time in modern Russian history, an automatic station was put into lunar orbit at 12:03 am Moscow time (11:03 am Belgian time, ed.),” it sounds like. “All systems on Luna-25 are operating normally and communications are stable.”
The probe was launched into lunar orbit using its engine, which was turned on twice from 11:57 am Moscow time: the first time for 243 seconds and the second time for 76 seconds.
South Pole
The probe will orbit the moon within 100 kilometers of the surface before landing on Monday north of the Boguslavsky crater at the moon’s south pole.
On Sunday, cameras on the probe captured the first images from space, showing parts of the probe along with Earth and the Moon in the distance.
In its official press release, the Russian Space Agency said that Luna-25, which weighs approximately 800 kilograms, will take soil samples, analyze the soil, and conduct long-term scientific research, for at least a year, once it reaches the moon.
The last spacecraft launched by the former Soviet Union to the Moon was Luna-24. In August 1976, he brought a sample of soil from the Moon to Earth.
NASA telescope sees something shaped like a question mark: What is it? (+)
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