Luna-25 probe crashes: Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years fails

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country's Roscosmos space agency said.

Communication with Luna-25 was lost at 2:57 pm (1157 GMT) on Saturday, Roscosmos said on Sunday.

The pilotless spacecraft was aiming to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the Moon, an area where scientists believe there could be important reserves of frozen water and precious elements. It had been expected to land Monday.

However, Roscosmos said the spacecraft ran into difficulties and reported an "abnormal situation ”.

“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon,” read a statement from the agency.

"Measures taken on August 19 and 20 to locate the craft and make contact with it were unsuccessful," the space agency added.

It said a ministerial investigation would be launched into the causes of the crash, without giving any indication of what technical problems might have occurred.

With Luna-25, Moscow had hoped to build on the legacy of its Soviet-era Luna programme, marking a return to independent lunar exploration in the face of financial troubles and corruption scandals at the programme and growing isolation from the West.

The 800-kilogram Luna-25 probe was to have made a soft landing on Monday on the lunar south pole — the first in history.

Space race

Russia has not attempted to land on a celestial body since 1989, when the Soviet Union's ill-fated Phobos 2 probe to explore the moons of Mars failed due to an onboard computer malfunction.

Roscosmos boss Yuri Borisov had said the venture would be "risky", telling President Vladimir Putin in June that the probability of it succeeding was "around 70 percent".

Luna-25 had been successfully placed in the Moon's orbit on Wednesday after being launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.

But on Saturday, Roscosmos said an "emergency" had been detected during a manoeuvre by the probe prior to its Moon landing, preventing the operation from being carried out.

Luna-25 had been expected to stay on the Moon for a year, collecting soil samples and looking for water — an ingredient enthusiasts hope could be used to make rocket fuel for future launches and support potential colonies living there.

Doubts have overshadowed Russia's long-running space cooperation with the West over its military campaign in Ukraine.

While Russia has said it intends to use the International Space Station until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) has dropped plans to co-operate with Moscow on Moon and Mars missions.