MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's failed Luna-25 mission left a 10-metre wide crater on the moon when it crashed last month after a problem preparing for a soft landing on the south pole, according to images released by NASA.
Luna-25, Russia's first moon mission in 47 years, failed on Aug. 19 when it spun out of control and crashed into the moon, underscoring the post-Soviet decline of a once mighty space programme.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft imaged a new crater on the surface of the moon that it concluded was the likely the impact site of Russia's Luna 25 mission. "The new crater is about 10 meters in diameter," NASA said."Since this new crater is close to the Luna-25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor."
After the crash, Moscow said a special inter-departmental commission had been formed to investigate the reasons behind the loss of the Luna-25 craft. Though many moon missions fail, the crash underscored the decline of Russia's space power since the glory days of Cold War competition when Moscow was the first to launch a satellite to orbit the Earth - Sputnik 1 in 1957 - and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel into space in 1961.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Prigozhin's right-hand man in Wagner buried quietly near Moscow(Reuters) - The co-founder and military commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner was buried near Moscow on Thursday, after dying in an unexplained plane crash that also killed his boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Read more »
Russia kills Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ during incursion of BryanskMoscow claims that Kyiv uses western-supplied arms to carry out strikes.
Read more »
Oil heads for robust weekly gain as Russia extends export cutsMoscow has agreed with Opec+ on wider cuts to exports, with further details to be released.
Read more »
Jailed Russian nationalist Girkin says he’d be better president than PutinMOSCOW, Aug 31 — Igor Girkin, a prominent Russian ultranationalist in custody awaiting trial on charges of inciting extremism, said today he would make a better president than...
Read more »
Russian jobless rate hits new record lowThis decline in joblessness and rise in real wages acts as further evidence of a tight labour market.
Read more »
EU study slams big tech firms over Russian disinformationBRUSSELS, Aug 30 — Tech titans, including TikTok and Twitter, failed to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online during the first year of the war in Ukraine, according to...
Read more »