Russia could launch the first Russian spacecraft to the moon after a 45-year hiatus in early 2022, Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of Russian space agency Roscosmos, said on Wednesday.
In early June, the Roscosmos chief told Sputnik that the launch of “Luna-25”, scheduled for October, would be delayed due to the supply of equipment and testing of the station.
“By the end of the year our Luna-25 spacecraft will be ready. This is our first lander mission which will be sent to the moon either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, depending on technical readiness,” Rogozin told Russia’s Vesti FM radio station.
Luna-25 is a project of the first Russian lunar space probe. The previous one, Luna-24, was launched by the Soviet Union in 1976. The space probe will be also the first lander mission on the lunar south pole.
