Luna 25 spacecraft crashes into Moon's surface - Russia's Roscosmos corporation

MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The Luna 25 automatic interplanetary station has ceased to exist following a crash with the surface of the Moon, Russia's Roscosmos space corporation said on Sunday.

"According to preliminary analysis, in light of deviation of the actual parameters from of the impulse from the estimated ones, the Luna 25 spacecraft entered an unplanned orbit and ceased to exist after colliding with the surface of the Moon," Roscosmos said.

"The specially formed interagency commission will determine the causes of the loss of the spacecraft," Roscosmos said.

Contact with the Luna 25 automatic interplanetary station was lost on August 19 after the issuing of an impulse for forming a pre-landing orbit, Roscosmos said.

"On August 19, the issuing of an impulse for forming the pre-landing elliptical orbit of the Luna 25 spacecraft was envisaged in accordance with its flight program," it said. Contact with the Luna 25 spacecraft was lost around 2:57 p.m. Moscow decree time, it said.

"Measures to find the spacecraft and make contact with it taken on August 19 and 20 yielded no results," it said.

Roscosmos said on Saturday that the Luna 25 station experienced an emergency situation which prevented it from "carrying out the maneuver with preset parameters" during the issuance of an impulse for the transfer into the pre-landing orbit.

The first lunar mission in Russia's modern history began on August 11. Luna 25 was launched by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage from Vostochny Cosmodrome.

Roscosmos General Director Yury Borisov said earlier that Luna 25 was due to touch down at the lunar South Pole on August 21.

Luna 25 is a part of Russia's lunar program, and the first Russian lunar mission undertaken by NPO Lavochkin to explore and develop the Moon and circumlunar space using automated interplanetary spacecraft.