The 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.
A Soyuz rocket with the moon lander Luna-25 takes off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome earlier this month. Pic: APThe head of Russia's space agency has blamed the Luna-25 spacecraft crashing into the moon on the country's decades-long pause in lunar exploration.
Roscosmos director general Yury Borisov said the spacecraft's engines were turned on over the weekend to put Luna-25 into a"pre-landing orbit" but did not shut down properly -"Instead of the planned 84 seconds, it worked for 127 seconds. This was the main reason for the emergency," Mr Borisov told Russia 24, a state news channel.
"The negative experience of interrupting the lunar programme for almost 50 years is the main reason for the failures," Mr Borisov said - adding"it would be the worst decision ever" for Russia to end the programme now.
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Russian space agency’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into moonThe crash comes after Roscosmos reported an ‘abnormal situation’.
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Russian space ship has crashed into the MoonThe launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in the Far East of the Luna-25 craft to the moon was Russia’s first since 1976
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