Russian Luna 25 moon lander filled up with fuel at Vostochny Cosmodrome - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. July 26 (Interfax) - Roscosmos specialists have completed the fuel servicing of the Luna 25 automated lunar lander, which is expected to be launched in August 2023, a Roscosmos spokesperson said.

"Fuel servicing of the Luna 25 automated spacecraft has been completed at the Vostochny Cosmodrome ahead of its launch on board the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle," the spokesperson said.

Specialists at the Vostochny Cosmodrome have transported the spacecraft filled up with fuel components and pressurized gases to the workstation in the operations and checkout building, he said.

"The assembly of the payload fairing will start shortly," Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos said on July 11 that the Luna 25 spacecraft had been delivered to the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle equipped with a Fregat upper stage and carrying the Luna 25, designed to examine the surface of the Moon near its south pole, is due to blast off in August of this year, it said.

Roscosmos said earlier that the launch of the first lunar mission in Russia's modern history had been moved from July to August 2023 in order to carry out additional tests of the Earth-based control systems.

In September 2022, Roscosmos said that the launch of the Luna 25 spacecraft was delayed due to problems with a Doppler speed and range meter.

Luna 25 is part of Russia's lunar program. NPO Lavochkin is working on the first lunar mission, which aims to explore and use the Moon and the space around it by means of automatic interplanetary rovers. A lander will be launched first, followed by the launch of an orbiter a year later.