The Russian Luna-25 lander, the country’s first Moon mission this century, has ceased to exist following its crash into the Moon, the Russian space agency said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the preliminary report, the probe collided with the surface of the Moon.
Yesterday, the contact with the lander was lost.
Luna-25 was the first Russian lunar station in almost 50 years. The previous probe, Luna-24, was launched in 1976 and returned to Earth with samples of lunar soil.
The spacecraft was launched on 11 August, with the planned arrival to the south pole of the Moon set on 21 August.
On 16 August, it was reported that the Luna-25 probe entered the Moon’s orbit. “For the first time in the history of modern Russia, an automatic station was put into orbit of the Moon’s artificial satellite,” the Russian space agency said.
