Russia's Luna 25 lander to be launched on Aug 11 - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - The first lunar mission in the history of modern Russia, Luna 25, is scheduled to launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on August 11, Roscosmos said on Monday.

"A Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle coupled with a Fregat upper stage and the Lunar 25 automated spacecraft is due to take off at 2:10:57 a.m. MSK on August 11," Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos specialists assembled the Soyuz-2.1b rocket and the Luna 25 automated spacecraft at Vostochny on Monday, it said.

"A state commission has permitted transportation and installation of the rocket at Launch Site 1C on August 8," Roscosmos said.

"The spacecraft is made entirely of Russian components based on the latest achievements of the space instrument manufacturing industry. Luna 25 has a completely different landing system compared to its predecessors: Soviet lunar spacecraft landed on the equator, while the new spacecraft is supposed to touch down in a polar area with difficult terrain," Roscosmos said.

The spacecraft will test touch-down technology, extract and analyze lunar soil, and conduct extended research, including of the upper layer of regolith on the surface near the lunar South Pole and lunar exosphere, Roscosmos said.

Luna 25 is part of the Russian lunar program. It is the first Russian lunar mission carried out by NPO Lavochkin to study and begin practically using the Moon and lunar space by automated interplanetary rovers. The mission's initial phase involves a lander, which will be followed by the launch of an orbiter a year from now.