Russia received lunar soil sample from U.S., tests confirmed its origin - Roscosmos head

MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - Russian scientists examined a sample of lunar soil handed over by the United States, Roscosmos State Space Corporation CEO Yury Borisov said.

"As for whether Americans were on the Moon or not, I have only one fact. I looked into this matter. They once gave us a sample of the lunar soil delivered by the astronauts during that expedition. An examination by our Academy of Sciences confirmed that it is exactly lunar soil," Borisov said in the State Duma on Wednesday after being asked by an MP about U.S. astronauts' landing on the Moon.

The Soviet Academy of Sciences and NASA signed an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation in 1971. After that, they exchanged lunar soil samples delivered to Earth by the Luna 16 Soviet uncrewed space mission and by the U.S. spaceships Apollo 11 and Apollo 12.

The CGTN television channel said on June 25 that China's Chang'e-6 lunar module had delivered lunar soil samples collected from the far side of the Moon for the first time in history.

Roscosmos Deputy Director for International Cooperation Sergei Savelyev said on May 28, 2024 that Russia and China had set up a joint center for exchanging lunar research data and for coordinating Russia's Luna 26 and China's Chang'e-7 missions. The launch of the Luna 26 mission has been set for 2027, of Luna 27 for 2028, and of Luna-28 for 2030 or later.

The first lunar mission in Russia's modern history began on August 11, 2023. Luna 25 took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome and a soft landing on the Moon's South Pole was planned for August 21. However, the spacecraft crashed on the Moon and was lost on August 19.