Russia resumes the lunar space race with its first mission since the fall of the USSR

Russia will launch its first robotic mission to the Moon since 1976 on Friday, the Roscosmos space agency announced Monday.

The takeoff of the Luna-25 module will take place “he August 11 at 02:10:57 Moscow time” (23:10:57 GMT on Thursday), Roscosmos said in a statement, when world powers such as the United States and China intensify their missions to the natural earth satellite.

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Roscosmos further indicated that a [cohete] soyuz was “assembly” at the Vostochni space base, in the far east of the country, for the takeoff of Luna-25, which It should land near the south pole of the Moon.a “difficult terrain”

The flight is scheduled to take between “four and a half days and five and a half days”according to data published by Roscosmos and cited by the official TASS press agency.

Once on the Moon, the module, whose mass is 800 kilos, must “take samples and analyze the soil, as well as carry out long-term scientific investigations”the space agency said in its statement.

It will be about the first mission of Russia’s new lunar programwhich seeks to strengthen its space cooperation with China amid tensions with Western space powers over Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

The spacecraft should land near the south pole of the Moon.

The last lunar mission of the Soviet Union was that of the Luna-24 space probe in 1976.

But since the fall of the USSR, Moscow has faced a series of difficulties to innovate in the sector, in which new private initiatives have emerged, such as Space X by billionaire Elon Musk.

The authorities of the Khabarovsk region (far east) have already announced the evacuation of a town since Friday morning, since it is located in a place where the first floor of the launcher can fall.

“It is of great importance, not only for Putin, but for post-Putin times, a peaceful Russia”Vitali Egorov, a Russian space specialist, told AFP.

“This launch will show that the Russians can engage in space exploration”he added.

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Glorious past, uncertain future

After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the European Space Agency (ESA) stated that it would no longer cooperate with Russia for the takeoff of Luna-25, nor for future missions.

Russia declared that it would continue its lunar projects and would replace ESA equipment with nationally manufactured scientific equipment, because it is still considered as a great space power taking into account its Soviet past.

In April 2022, on a trip to the Vostotchny cosmodrome, Vladimir Putin recalled that the USSR managed in 1961 to send the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin, despite the sanctions “totals” that they took against him.

Putin assured that Russia would continue to implement its lunar program despite Western reprisals for the conflict in Ukraine.

“We are guided by our ancestors to move forward, despite the difficulties and attempts to hinder us”Putin then told the employees of the complex.

In June, however, the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, described the russian lunar mission “risky”.

“In the world, the possibility of success of this type of missions is estimated at 70%”he stressed.

Source: Elcomercio