Moscow : After India, now Russia has also launched its Luna-25 lunar mission to the Moon.
Russia has sent its rocket to the Moon 47 years later. Luna-25 was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, located 5,500 kilometers east of Moscow. It is said that Russia’s Luna-25 will be the first to land on the Moon before India’s Chandrayaan-3.
According to Russian media, on Friday morning, August 11th, Luna-25 lander was launched from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome at 4:40 AM. Luna-25 was launched aboard a Soyuz 2.1b rocket. This mission is named “Luna-Glob”. The rocket is approximately 46.3 meters tall and has a diameter of 10.3 meters.
Russian space agency Roscosmos has announced that Luna-25 has successfully left for the Moon. It will take about five days to reach the Moon. After that, the rocket weighing 313 tons will spend 7 to 10 days orbiting the Moon. The expected date of landing on the Moon’s surface is around August 21st or 22nd.
According to Russian media, Russia plans to land the lander in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. Scientists have indicated the possibility of water in this region of the Moon. NASA had previously suggested the presence of water in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. This mission includes a rover and a lander.
The lander weighs around 800 kilograms. Luna-25 will practice a soft landing. It carries a special device that can drill up to 6 inches into the surface. It will collect samples of up to 25 rocks and soil types, and it can search for frozen water.