Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Handout / Russian Space Agency Roscosmos / AFP 16:02 p.m., August 07, 2023

The Russian space agency Roscosmos announces launching in the night from Thursday to Friday its first craft to the Moon since 1976, the Luna-25 lander. The flight is expected to last between "four and a half days and five and a half days." The last lunar mission of the USSR was that of the Luna-24 space probe, in 1976.

Russia will launch its first craft to the moon since 1976 on Friday, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said Monday, struggling for decades to carry out its own projects. The launch of the Luna-25 lander will take place "on August 11 at 02:10:57 Moscow time" (23:10:57 GMT Thursday), Roscosmos said in a statement, as world powers, such as the United States and China, multiply missions for moon landings.

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Roscosmos said a Soyuz launcher had been "assembled" on the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far East for the launch of Luna-25, which will land near the south pole of the Moon, "in difficult terrain".

Long-term scientific research

The flight is expected to last between "four and a half days and five and a half days," according to data published by Roscosmos and cited by the official Tass news agency. Once on the moon, Luna-25, which weighs nearly 800 kilograms, will have the mission for at least one year to "collect and analyze the soil and conduct long-term scientific research," said the Russian space agency in its official statement.

This launch is the first mission of Russia's new lunar program and comes at a time when Moscow wants to strengthen its space cooperation with Beijing, in full tensions with Western space powers because of Ukraine.

The Luna-24 space probe, the last mission of the USSR

After Vladimir Putin launched the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, the European Space Agency (ESA) said it would no longer cooperate with Russia on the launch of Luna-25, nor on future missions 26 and 27. Despite the withdrawal, Moscow said it would continue its lunar projects and replace ESA equipment with Russian-made scientific equipment.

The last lunar mission of the USSR was that of the Luna-24 space probe, in 1976. Since the fall of the USSR, Moscow has struggled to innovate in the field of space exploration and its programs are now competing not only with state actors but also with private initiatives, such as Space X, billionaire Elon Musk.