Russian Lunar Mission Failed

The Russian space agency Roskosmos: the interplanetary automatic station Luna-25 ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon.

The Russian automatic station Luna-25 crashed on the Moon. This was announced on Sunday, August 20, by the Russian space corporation Roskosmos. The station, launched by Russia to the Moon, for the first time since the last Soviet mission in 1976, changed its flight path as a result of an unspecified accident during one of the maneuvers before entering an elliptical lunar orbit. Landing on the lunar surface was originally scheduled for Monday, August 21.
“Yesterday, around 14:57 Moscow time (Saturday, August 19 – ed.), communication with Luna-25 was interrupted,” the Russian space agency wrote in a statement. “According to the preliminary results of the investigation, which is still ongoing, the Luna-25 station ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface,” Roskosmos said.
The Russian lunar station was launched on August 11, 2023 following a similar Indian mission called Chandrayaan-3. The Indian probe is currently in lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 kilometers above the surface of the Moon and is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 24th.