Russia has embarked on a new lunar expedition with the Luna-25 spacecraft
Moscow: After an interval of 47 years, Russia has embarked on a new lunar expedition with the Luna-25 spacecraft. Luna-25 was launched atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny launch facility in Russia at 2:10 a.m. Moscow time (4:40 am IST) on Friday, as reported by the TASS news agency.The preceding Russian lunar mission, Luna-24, took place in 1976 during the era of the former Soviet Union. This mission successfully transported approximately 170 grams of lunar samples back to Earth.Luna-25 is projected to enter the Moon's orbit on August 16 and subsequently touch down on August 21. It will spend anywhere from three to seven days at an altitude of about 100 km above the lunar surface before executing a landing near the Boguslawsky crater. Potential alternate landing sites inclu...