Russia revises launch timeline for Luna-28, Luna-29, and Luna-30 spacecraft

Source: Kommersant

Russia has revised the launch timeline for the Luna-28, Luna-29, and Luna-30 spacecraft, according to the Russian business daily Kommersant, which cited a presentation by Russian Academy of Sciences Vice President Sergei Chernyshev at a meeting of the academy.

Luna-29 is now expected to launch in 2032, Chernyshev said, with Luna-30 following in 2034 and Luna-28 in 2036.

Russia’s lunar exploration program is divided into two phases, he said: the first focused on testing technologies and scouting landing sites, and the second on building elements of lunar bases.

The previous timeline was announced in October 2025 by Anatoly Petrukovich, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute. He said Luna-30, carrying a heavy lunar rover, was planned to reach the Moon in 2036, with Luna-28 set to launch in 2034 and Luna-29 in 2032.

In December 2023, Yuri Borisov, who was then heading Roscosmos, said Luna-28 was planned for launch by 2030. Before that, he said, Roscosmos intended to launch Luna-26 in 2027, followed by two spacecraft — Luna-27a and Luna-27b — with 2028 as the target date for those launches.

In September 2025, Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the Space Research Institute, said Luna-26 was planned for launch in 2028. He did not give dates for the other spacecraft, saying only that crewed missions were not planned in Russia before 2036.

Roscosmos launched Russia’s most recent lunar mission — the first in the history of modern Russia — in August 2023. Luna-25 was set to become the first spacecraft ever to land at the Moon’s south pole. It crashed into the lunar surface.

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Russia revises launch timeline for Luna-28, Luna-29, and Luna-30 spacecraft

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