Russia launched its first probe to the moon in nearly 50 years on Friday. This mission aims to give new impetus to its space sector, which has been struggling for years and isolated due to the conflict in Ukraine.
• Also read: Russia will launch its first lunar spacecraft since 1976 on Friday
The launch of the Luna-25 probe marks the first lunar mission for Moscow since 1976, when the USSR was a pioneer in space exploration. A star that has faded due to funding problems and corruption scandals.
The Soyuz rocket carrying the nearly 800-kilogram probe launched as scheduled at 2:10 a.m. Moscow time from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East, carried by a Soyuz rocket, according to images transmitted live by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.
The vehicle rose in a cloud of smoke and flames under a gray sky. It has five days to reach lunar orbit, where it will then spend between three and seven days choosing the right spot before landing in the lunar south pole.
According to a source within Roscosmos contacted by AFP, the agency plans to land the probe around August 21.
“For the first time in history, the moon landing will be performed at the south pole of the moon. So far, all have landed in the equatorial zone,” a senior Roscosmos official, Alexandre Blokhine, said in a recent interview with the official newspaper Rossiïskaïa Gazeta.
The mission of the probe, which has to stay on the moon for one year, will have the task “to take and analyze soil samples” and “to conduct long-term scientific research,” the space agency said.
This launch is the first mission of Russia’s new lunar program, which begins when Roscosmos loses its partnerships with the West. As in the diplomatic orientation, Moscow is therefore striving to expand space cooperation with China.
Ambitions run high: According to Russian space expert Vitaly Yegorov, this is the first time post-Soviet Russia has attempted to place a device on a celestial body.
“The biggest question will be: can it land?” he told AFP, stressing that this mission is “of great importance” to Russia.
President Vladimir Putin has vowed to continue Russia’s space program despite the sanctions, citing as an example that the USSR sent the first man into space in 1961 amid escalating East-West tensions.
“We are guided by the ambition of our ancestors, despite difficulties and external attempts to prevent us from moving forward,” Putin said in a speech at the Vostochny Cosmodrome last year.
Still, the Luna 25 mission is “risky,” as Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov himself admits. “The probability of success of such missions is estimated at about 70%,” he told Vladimir Putin at a meeting in June.
The first stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle is due to impact near the village of Chaktinsky in the Khabarovsk Krai in the Far East. The authorities announced the evacuation of their residents from Friday morning.
The last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976, Luna-24, brought soil samples back to Earth.
The space sector is a source of great pride in Russia. The Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik, sent the first animal, a dog named Laika, into Earth orbit, the first man, Yuri Gagarin, and then the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova.
However, with the flight of Neil Armstrong in July 1969, the USSR was beaten by the United States for being the first man on the moon.
Russia’s space program, which still relies heavily on Soviet-developed technologies, struggles to innovate and suffers from chronic underfunding, with Moscow prioritizing military spending.
Also marked by corruption scandals and some failed launches, it has been increasingly challenged by the US, China but also private initiatives such as those of Space X and billionaire Elon Musk.