Russia successfully launches Luna-25 mission to moon

MOSCOW

Russia on Friday successfully launched its first mission to the moon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The flight of the Luna-25 mission will take some 5.5 days and the spacecraft will spend three to seven days in the moon's orbit, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

The main task of the mission is to work out a soft-landing technology in the moon's south pole, as the planned area of landing is the Boguslawsky crater. Manzinus and Pentland-A craters have been named as alternative landing sites.

Luna-25 will also study the internal structure of the satellite and the impact of cosmic rays and electromagnetic radiation on the moon’s surface, and explore natural resources, including water.

Several cameras installed on the spacecraft will take a landing timelapse and a panorama of Earth's natural satellite in HDR quality.

Luna-25 is expected to carry out several pre-programmed shooting and may take pictures of the moon on command from Earth.