Russia’s Moon mission fails after Luna-25 crashes into moon

Russia’s Moon mission ended in failure after its spacecraft, Luna-25 spun out of control and crashed into the moon. The Russian space agency Roscosmos today said, that a preliminary analysis of Luna 25 mission suggests that a deviation between the actual and calculated parameters of the propulsion manoeuvre led to the spacecraft transitioning into an unintended orbit, resulting in its collision with the lunar surface and subsequent loss.

Roscosmos said, yesterday, in accordance with the Luna-25 flight programme, an impulse was provided to form its pre-landing elliptical orbit. At about 14:57 Moscow time, communication with the Luna-25 apparatus was interrupted. The measures taken on yesterday and today to search for the device and get in contact with it did not produce any results. A specially formed interdepartmental commission will deal with the issues of clarifying the reasons for the loss of the Moon.