MOSCOW: Russia’s ‘Luna 25’ spacecraft reported an “emergency situation” during its manoeuvre prior to its Moon landing, CNN reported on Saturday citing Russian space agency ‘Roscosmos’.
An incident occurred, while the spacecraft was trying to enter a pre-landing orbit, according to Roscosmos.
“During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station which did not allow the manoeuvre to be performed with the specified parameters,” CNN quoted Roscosmos as saying in a Telegram post.
“The management team is currently analyzing the situation,” the space agency added.
However, it is still unclear if this episode will affect or prevent the lunar lander —which was slated to land near the moon’s south pole as soon as Monday — from attempting a touchdown, CNN reported.
Russia’s Luna 25 lander mission marked the country’s first attempt at landing a spacecraft on the moon since the Soviet era. The last lunar lander, Luna 24, landed on the lunar surface on August 18, 1976.
The spacecraft launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Amur Oblast aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket on August 10, setting the vehicle on a swift trip to the moon
Safely landing a spacecraft on the lunar surface would mark a huge step for Russia’s space program, as per CNN.
Luna 25 is also seen as a proving ground for future robotic lunar exploration missions by Roscosmos. Several future Luna missions are slated to make use of the same spacecraft design.
Russia is also seeking to prove that its civil space program, which some experts say has faced issues for decades, can still perform in high-profile, high-stakes missions.
“They were having a lot of problems with quality control, corruption, with funding,” CN quoted Victoria Samson, the Washington office director for Secure World Foundation, a non-profit that promotes the peaceful exploration of outer space. (ANI)