MOSCOW: Russia will launch its first lunar landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday in a race with India to the south pole of the moon. The launch will take place nearly four weeks after India sent up its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, due to touch down at the pole on August 23.
Russian space agency Roscosmos said its Luna-25 spacecraft would take five days to fly to the moon and then spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending on one of three possible landing sites near the pole a timetable that implies it could match or narrowly beat its Indian rival to the moon’s surface.