Russian lunar spacecraft crashes into the moon

Russia's first lunar mission in nearly half a century ended in failure on Sunday as its Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon, officials said.

Russia launched the uncrewed lunar vehicle last Wednesday in an effort to land the first spacecraft on the moon's south pole. Luna-25 was slated to land as early as Monday, but encountered an "emergency situation" that shifted it into an incorrect flight pattern, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

As a result of this deviation, Luna-25 was placed into an improper orbit for landing, and "ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface," Roscosmos officials wrote on a translated Telegram page. Officials said they were forming an "interdepartmental commission" to investigate what went wrong, and how the spacecraft ended up on an incorrect trajectory.

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The crash is a blow to the Russian space program. The south pole of the moon is thought to be rich in water ice, which scientists believe could potentially be used to create deep-space rocket fuel. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long held his country's space program in high regard, and Roscosmos officials said the mission's purpose was to show that Russia "is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon" and "ensure Russia's guaranteed access to the moon's surface," The Associated Press reported.

While Russia's mission failed, an Indian mission is currently orbiting the moon and is expected to make its own landing attempt at the south pole this week. The United States, China and other space-faring nations are also expected to probe the area in the coming years.

"It's unfortunate," Sudheer Kumar, a spokesman for India's IRSO space agency, told The New York Times in regard to the Luna-25 crash. "Every space mission is very risky and highly technical."