Science and Exploration

Russia’s Return to the Moon With Luna-25: High Risk, High Stakes

By Leonard David

SpaceRef

July 26, 2023

Filed under Luna-25, Moon, Roscosmos, Russia

Russia’s Return to the Moon With Luna-25: High Risk, High Stakes — Russia’s Luna-25 is packed up for shipping to the launch area, the Vostochny cosmodrome.

Image credit: Roscosmos.

Russia is set to reactivate the country’s robotic investigation of the Moon, picking up from its former Soviet Union days of heady and milestone-making lunar exploration. Luna-25, an upcoming Russian lunar lander mission, is reportedly targeted for an August 11 sendoff, departing from the Vostochny cosmodrome atop a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage.

Leonard David

Leonard is author of Moon Rush: The New Space Race, Mars – Our Future on the Red Planet, and co-authored with Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin of Mission to Mars – My Vision for Space Exploration - all published by the National Geographic Society.