Russia's Luna-25 mission ended in a crash on the moon, underlining the continuing decline of the nation's once-preeminent space program.
The Luna-25 mission's failure comes almost 47 years after the Soviet's Luna-24 successfully retrieved lunar soil.
Almost 47 years later to the day, Russian engineers tried a near-repeat of that feat, seeking to land a craft packed with scientific instruments on the moon’s southern hemisphere, with the goal of spending a year surveying the lunar surface.nine days after launch, on August 20, when the craft “ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface,” according to the Russian space agency, Roskosmos.
“They have had a few close calls and failures with their Soyuz and Progress vehicles lately, and the world saw the many issues with their military, highlighted with the problems they are having in their war on Ukraine,” Chiao said in an e-mail. “The fact that they cannot mount a mission to the Moon like they did in 1976 speaks volumes about the state of their aerospace industry today.”
on state TV on August 21 that the"main cause" was that the engines that were to put the spacecraft in a pre-landing orbit fired for 127 seconds instead of the required 84 seconds.with the state news agency RIA Novosti that engineers had recorded problems with the mission but that they were not considered major.
“Science has gone ahead, and technology has gone ahead -- unfortunately, over the years we have somewhat lost our competence, both in interplanetary flights and in landings on other planets,”For longtime observers of Russia’s space endeavors -- manned and unmanned -- the crash of Luna-25 had echoes of another ambitious effort more than a decade earlier.
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Russian space agency boss blames decades of inactivity for Luna-25 moon crashThe unmanned robot lander had been scheduled to become the first spacecraft to touch down on the south pole of the moon, in an area where scientists believe important reserves of frozen water and precious elements may exist.
Lire la suite »
Russian space agency’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into moonThe crash comes after Roscosmos reported an ‘abnormal situation’.
Lire la suite »
The Kurds’ dreams of independence look farther off than everAs the Kurds bicker, Iraq’s federal government is regaining control
Lire la suite »
Boot Dreams: 16 footballers' last chance to make itBruno Fernandes, Millie Bright, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Anton Ferdinand help mentor a team of young footballers hoping for one more chance at going pro.
Lire la suite »
Politics latest: Labour accuses PM of 'choking off the dreams of the next generation'Sir Keir Starmer has said if he wanted to be able to study law today, the current economic climate would have 'stopped my dream cold in its tracks'.
Lire la suite »