Russia Could Send New Mission to South Pole of Moon in 2025-2026 - Roscosmos

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - On Monday, Russia's Luna-25 automatic landing module crashed due to engine malfunction during a transition to the pre-landing orbit.

Russia could send another mission to the Moon's South Pole in 2025-2026, as scientists are eager to continue lunar projects, head of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos Yuri Borisov said on Friday.

"Borisov stressed that Russian scientists 'are eager to continue the lunar project.' One of the options for continuing the program may be the possibility of repeating the mission to land on the South Pole of the Moon in 2025-2026," Roscosmos said in a statement.

Borisov noted that the unfinished mission of the station does not put on hold the prospects for the exploration of the Moon.

"There is no need to make a tragedy out of this, we need to draw conclusions and continue working in this direction," Borisov said.

Earlier, Borisov said that the commission on the crash of Russia's Luna-25 automatic landing module has started working and will have to figure out in detail what led to its failure.

The Roscosmos head added that, hopefully, the next lunar missions "will be successful." Borisov also said that Russia gained a lot of experience despite the mission's failure.

Russia definitely needs to participate in the lunar race, Yuri Borisov added.