The Luna-25 module crashed on the lunar surface after an incident (File)
Moscow:
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia will not give up on its ambitions to land a spacecraft on the moon after its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed this month.
The Luna-25 module crashed into the lunar surface after an incident during pre-landing maneuvers. Days later, India successfully landed its lander “Vikram” near the moon’s south pole.
“We know that the road to the stars is through thorns. The main thing is to continue the Russian program,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“The plans are quite ambitious and will be realized,” he said, adding that the failed mission was not a reason to “pull your hair out”.
The Luna-25 mission was intended to mark Moscow’s return to independent lunar exploration in the face of financial troubles, corruption scandals and growing isolation from the West.
It last landed a probe on the moon in 1976, before turning away from lunar exploration in favor of missions to Venus and building the Mir space station.
