Russia launches 1st lunar station in 50 years

Russia successfully launched the Luna-25 lunar outpost early Friday, beginning a historic 50-year quest to investigate the moon’s south pole.

According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, the station was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage.

The Fregat upper stage and the Luna-25 station separated from the rocket’s third stage nine minutes after takeoff.

Luna-25 detached from the Fregat upper stage about an hour later and successfully started the flight path to the moon, completing the first stage of its mission.

The mission was divided into four phases, with the second stage consisting of a five-day trip to the moon.

The trajectory would be tweaked twice: once after the launch and once before entering orbit around the moon.

The final step would involve the station flying around the moon in a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 100 kilometres for three days.

The landing will take place in the fourth stage, when the station will transition to an elliptical landing orbit with a minimum altitude of 18 kilometres.

The Academy also stated that a soft landing near the lunar South Pole was expected.

The landing is slated to take place on August 21, when Luna-25 will become the first station in history to land on the moon’s south pole, an area with complicated topography and potential resources.

The mission’s principal goals were to test soft landing technology, research the internal structure, and explore the resources of the lunar South Pole.

Xinhua/NAN