"Soyuz-2.1b" rocket launched to Moon

The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and the Luna-25 automatic station were launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Bashinform News Agency learned about this from the Roscosmos press service.

The carrier rocket has worked in normal mode. The upper stage has separated from the rocket's third stage, putting the automatic station on a flight trajectory to the Moon.

This was the eleventh launch of a Russian vehicle in 2023, including the third from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. For the Soyuz-2.1b, this flight was the 65th, for the Frigate family - the 117th in history.

The automatic station Luna-25 for the first time in the modern history of Russia, is sent to the Earth's natural satellite. She will have to work out the soft landing technology, take and analyze the soil and conduct long-term scientific research, including studying the upper layer of surface regolith in the region of the South Pole of the Moon and the lunar exosphere.

Regarding landing, Luna-25 fundamentally differs from its predecessors: Soviet lunar stations landed in the equatorial zone, and the new station must make a soft landing in the circumpolar region with difficult terrain.

Author: Laysan Zakirova