Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into moon
The craft, which was meant to get a sense of whether the moon could support a permanent base for humans, crashed after spinning into an “unpredictable orbit”, the Russian space corporation said.
Russia has reported that its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon.
The unmanned robot lander, which launched earlier this month, crashed after it spun into uncontrolled orbit, Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos reported on Sunday.
It comes after the country reported an “abnormal situation” that its specialists were analysing on Saturday.
The mission was the country’s first to the lunar surface in almost 50 years.
Russia had hoped that the robot would spend a year collecting samples of rock and dust after landing on the moon’s south pole, which was due to happen on Monday.
Image:Pic: AP
However, the space corporation said it had lost contact with the craft after it ran into unspecified trouble while preparing for the pre-landing orbit.