On Saturday, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, announced that the Luna 25 spacecraft has encountered an unexpected problem while on its mission. Roscosmos stated in a Telegram post that an unforeseen event took place on the automated station during the mission, hindering the execution of the maneuver according to the predetermined parameters.

The current situation is being analyzed by the management team, stated the space agency.

It remains uncertain whether the problem will hinder the lunar lander’s attempt to touch down near the south pole of the moon, which was scheduled for Monday.

Russia’s recent Luna 25 mission represents their first endeavor to land a spacecraft on the moon since the Soviet era. This significant achievement follows the lunar landing of Luna 24 back in August 1976.

Russia’s Luna 25 expedition has been successfully launched towards the moon.

The space vehicle was launched from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome, located in the Amur Oblast, using a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket on August 10th. This successful launch promptly initiated the spacecraft’s journey to the moon.

Luna 25’s path enabled it to surpass the lunar lander Chandrayaan-3 from India, which was launched in mid-July, as it journeyed towards the moon’s surface.

According to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, the portrayal in the media that India and Russia are competing to reach the lunar south pole is not entirely correct. McDowell highlighted that both endeavors have been in progress for over ten years.

Achieving a successful spacecraft landing on the moon would be a significant milestone for Russia’s space program, considering the complexity and importance of such an endeavor.

The Luna 25 mission is viewed as a testing ground for upcoming robotic lunar exploration missions by Roscosmos. Numerous future Luna missions are planned to utilize the identical spacecraft design.

Russia is also aiming to demonstrate the capabilities of its civil space program, which has been reportedly plagued by challenges for many years, in significant and critical missions.

According to Victoria Samson, the director of the Washington office for the nonprofit organization Secure World Foundation, numerous challenges were being faced in relation to quality control, corruption, and funding. This information was shared in the context of discussing the peaceful exploration of outer space.