Russian lunar lander crashed because engines continued to burn | Abroad

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The crash of the Russian lunar craft Luna-25 on Saturday on the moon was due to a fault with the engines. They should have burned for 84 seconds for the craft to orbit the moon, but burned for 127 seconds, state space agency Roskosmos reports.

The company shared initial findings about the crash with Russian state media. It is not yet known why the engines did not switch off when they should have. The risky shunting maneuver was the last step before the planned landing of the Luna-25. It was expected to take place today, but Roskosmos signaled problems on Saturday when the mission control wanted to put the lunar module into orbit around the moon at 2:10 p.m. Moscow time.

“During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which prevented the maneuver from being performed with the specified parameters,” the state space agency said in a brief statement on Sunday about the crash. That marked the failure of Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years.

Decline Russian Space Force

The failure of the prestigious Luna-25 mission illustrates the decline of the Russian space force since the glory days of the Cold War. Moscow became the first to launch an artificial satellite (Sputnik 1) into orbit in 1957, and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space aboard Vostok 1 in 1961.

Russia hadn’t launched a moon mission since Luna-24 in 1976, when Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Kremlin. Apart from the Soviet Union, only the United States and China have managed to reach the surface of the moon in a careful and controlled manner. Attempts by India, Japan and Israel, among others, failed.

The sanctions imposed by the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 hamper the Russian space program, which has been cut off from Western technology and funding.

Race against India

Russia raced against India, whose Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is expected to land at the south pole of the moon on Wednesday. That lunar lander would then be the first spacecraft ever to land at that point of Earth’s natural satellite.

epa10811886 A handout photo made available by Roscosmos State Space Corporation shows first picture of the moon lander Luna 25 (Moon) automatic station during its way to the Moon, 16 August 2023 (issued 21 August 2023). The head of Roskosmos, Yuri Borisov, said that the cause of the accident at the Luna-25 station was the abnormal operation of the corrective engine, a special commission will investigate the causes. According to Borisov, the errors of the Luna-25 mission will be corrected in preparation for the launch of the next stations. The first lunar mission in the modern history of Russia started on August 11. The Luna-25 automatic interplanetary station was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome by a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage. Borisov reported that the soft landing of Luna-25 on the South Pole of the Earth’s satellite was to take place on August 21. EPA/ROSCOSMOS STATE SPACE CORPORATION / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES © ANP/EPA

In this photo released by the Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station is seen inside a plant shop at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russia's Far East, on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country's Roscosmos space agency said Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. (Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure-Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP)
In this photo released by the Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station is seen inside a plant shop at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russia’s Far East, on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country’s Roscosmos space agency said Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. (Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure-Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP) © AP

In this photo taken from video and released by Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket with the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station takes off from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russia's Far East, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. The Russian space agency says its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. Russia's unmanned robot lander crashed after it had spun into uncontrolled orbit, the country's space agency Roscosmos reported on Sunday, Aug. 20. 2023. (Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP)
In this photo taken from video and released by Roscosmos State Space Corporation, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket with the moon lander Luna-25 automatic station takes off from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russia’s Far East, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. The Russian space agency says its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. Russia’s unmanned robot lander crashed after it had spun into uncontrolled orbit, the country’s space agency Roscosmos reported on Sunday, Aug. 20. 2023. (Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP) © AP


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