Roscosmos president calls for continuation of Russian moon exploration program despite crash

The head of the Russian space agency, Yury Borisov, emphasized that Moscow is not supposed to abandon its moon exploration program despite the crash of the "Luna-25" probe in a setback attributed to the suspension of Russian missions on the moon's surface for over 50 years. 

The Director General of Roscosmos, in an interview with the official television channel "Russia 24," stated, "Abandoning tasks related to moon exploration would be the worst decision Russia could make." 

He added that Moscow should "reacquire various appropriate technologies." 

He observed that one of the main reasons for the crash of "Luna-25," the first probe launched by Moscow to the moon since 1976, was due to Russia's suspension of its "moon exploration program for about fifty years." 

Borisov added, "The vast expertise accumulated by specialists in the space field during the 1960s and 1970s has been practically lost, without being passed down to subsequent generations." 

After nearly fifty years since Moscow's last successful lunar mission, "Luna-25," weighing about 800 kilograms, crashed on the moon's surface as a result of an accident that occurred on Saturday during a preliminary maneuver for its landing operation. 

Borisov explained that the accident occurred because the engine did not shut down naturally and operated for 127 seconds instead of 84 seconds. One of the committees will quickly shed light on the cause of the accident. 

This failure comes at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to continue the space program despite Western sanctions imposed on his country, recalling that the Soviet Union sent the first human into space in 1961, amid escalating tensions between East and West. 

Putin promised to continue the space program despite funding problems and corruption scandals, as well as the isolation Russia has faced since its invasion of Ukraine. 

The probe was successfully placed in orbit around the moon on Wednesday after its launch on the night of August 10 to 11 from the far north of Russia. The probe was scheduled to land on Monday north of the "Boguslawsky Crater" on the moon's South Pole, which would have been a precedent as all previous missions landed in the equatorial region. 

The mission of the vehicle, which was supposed to last a year, involved collecting and analyzing moon soil samples. 

In recent years, there has been a new race to the moon, with the United States, China, as well as India and South Korea, having significant ambitions in this regard, in addition to several private companies. 

AFP