Despite Luna-25 spacecraft crash, China expected to continue working with Russia in race for moon base
- Robotic probe was the first in a series of Russian missions planned as part of ILRS project but spun out of control and collided with the lunar surface on Saturday
- Stakes now high for India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission which aims to land this week at a similar latitude as the Luna-25 plan
Russia’s robotic probe, which was scheduled to touch down in the lunar south pole region early this week, encountered an engine failure during Saturday’s manoeuvre to lower its orbit ready for the landing, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos Yury Borisov told state media on Monday.
“Instead of the planned 84 seconds, the engine worked for 127 seconds. This was the main cause of the spacecraft’s crash,” Borisov said told Russia-24, in an interview which was shared by Roscosmos.
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Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years fails as spacecraft Luna-25 crashes into the moon’s surface
On Monday, when asked if China still saw Russia as a key partner after the failed mission, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the ILRS was “open to all interested parties”, and that China would always “push for extensive international cooperation” under the principles of joint substantiation, joint development and data sharing.
