Russia’s space corporation, Roskosmos, said earlier that an abnormal situation had occurred, as mission control tried to move the craft into a pre-landing orbit, ahead of a planned touchdown slated for Monday.
The failure of Russia’s first moon mission in 47 years, underscore the decline of Russia’s space power since the glory days of Cold War competition, when Moscow was the first to launch a satellite to orbit in 1957.
Russia had not attempted a moon mission since Luna-24 in 1976, when Leonid Brezhnev, ruled the Kremlin.
Russian space officials said Luna-25 was supposed to execute a soft landing on the south pole of the moon on 21 August.
Leave feedback about this