Roscosmos euphoric as Russia sends first mission to Moon in nearly 50 years. Luna-25 lander to reach lunar south pole by August 21.

The first lunar mission in Russia’s post-Soviet history was launched at 2:10 a.m. Moscow time (just after midnight GMT) today, from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East.

Within an hour, the Luna-25 craft was put on a flight path to the Moon, separating from the upper stage. It’s expected to enter a circular lunar orbit by August 16, and to land on August 21 just north of the Boguslawski crater, near the southern lunar limb.

This is the first Russian Moon mission since 1976, when the USSR had launched its Luna-24 craft. The Russian state space corporation Roscosmos plans to make Luna-25 the first mission in history to land at the lunar south pole.

The mission is expected to last a year. Roscosmos had already declared plans to launch follow-up missions in 2027, 2028, and sometime after 2030. Euphoric coverage on the space agency’s Telegram channel is presently tracking the progress of its current mission.