Russia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. The country launched the first artificial satellite named Sputnik 1 in 1957 to orbit the Earth. It was Yuri Gagarin, the first man to space was also from Russia (The then Soviet Union). He went into space in 1961.
Russia last sent a spacecraft to the moon in 1976. It was called Luna-24. Leonid Brezhnev was ruling Soviet Union at that time. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia as an independent state no longer flew to the moon.
To fill that void, Russia initiated its moon mission for the first time in 47 years on August 10. Luna-25 was launched on a Soyuz 2.1 rocket. It reached lunar orbit on August 16. The moon was supposed to land on the south-pole on August 21. But before that, the expedition failed due to an accident on August 19. Within hours of the failure, the country’s leading scientist, 90-year-old Mikhail Marov, fell ill. In view of the failure of the operation, he fell ill and was admitted to the Central Clinical Hospital in the Russian capital, Moscow.
In the failure, Mikhail told reporters that how much he was hurt even lying in the hospital bed. An UK media told the Independent that the incident is worrying. It is a part of life. The magnitude of the incident was overwhelming for me. Now I am under the observation of doctors. It is sad that the moon landing was not possible. The mission was the last hope to see a revival of Russian lunar missions.
Asked why it failed, a statement from Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos said the vehicle had entered an unstable orbit. The control room lost contact with the spacecraft at 11:57 a.m. International Standard Time. Earlier at 11:10 a.m. the control room attempted to move the spacecraft to a different orbit before landing. Then an ‘abnormal situation’ arose. It later collided with the lunar surface and was destroyed. The reason for this is being investigated by a special commission.
Whatever the reason, Russia’s failure in this prestigious mission may raise questions about the country’s prowess in space exploration. A war with Moscow will also put pressure on Russia’s economy.