Russia's First Lunar Mission in 47 Years Has Crashed Into the Moon

Russia crashed its Luna-25 spacecraft into the Moon over the weekend, dashing the nation’s hopes of landing a robot on the lunar surface for the first time in 47 years. 

The uncrewed spacecraft experienced “an emergency situation” and then “ceased its existence as a result of a collision with the lunar surface,” according to statements from Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, that were posted on Telegram.

Roscosmos lost communications with the mission on Saturday afternoon, Moscow time, less than an hour after it fired its engines as part of a planned orbital approach to the Moon. Luna-25 was supposed to touch down on the lunar South Pole within 48 hours of this maneuver, but mission scientists think that the engine probably misfired and blasted the spacecraft off course, causing it to smash into its target. 

The agency added that a specially formed interdepartmental commission will conduct an investigation to clarify the cause of the accident.

“On August 19, in accordance with the flight program of the Luna-25 spacecraft, an impulse was provided for the formation of its pre-landing elliptical orbit,” Roscosmos said in a statement posted on Sunday. “At about 14:57 Moscow time, communication with the Luna-25 spacecraft was interrupted. The measures taken on August 19 and 20 to search for the device and get into contact with it did not produce any results.”

The crash is the latest setback for the Russian space program, which has hemorrhaged international partnerships and prestige as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Many of the nation’s collaborative efforts with European and American space entities have collapsed, including a life-seeking mission to Mars that will now proceed without input from Russia. 

Even before the invasion began in February 2022, Russia has struggled to maintain its status as a global spacefaring power. While Russia remains an essential partner on the International Space Station, its attempts to push beyond low-Earth orbit over the past few decades—including Mars missions launched in 1996 and 2012—have ended in failure.

That said, Russia is hardly an outlier when it comes to 21st century Moon crashes. Since 2019, Israel, India, and Japan have also sent landers to the Moon, all of which ended up in smashed pieces on the lunar surface. China, in contrast, has successfully landed three missions on the Moon over the past decade.

India is currently gearing up for its second attempt to touch down on the Moon with its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which is due to land on the lunar South Pole on Wednesday. Sudheer Kumar, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization, said the loss of Luna-25 was “unfortunate,” according to the New York Times, noting that “every space mission is very risky and highly technical.”

Luna-25 was designed to pick up the thread from Russia’s last lunar lander, Luna 24, which touched down in the Mare Crisium region in 1976. While Russia intends to send more missions to the Moon as part of its Luna-Glob program, it’s probable that those efforts will now be delayed in the wake of Luna-25’s crash.

In the meantime, many other nations and companies have Moon landings in the works, including the NASA-led Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface within the coming decade.