MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th July, 2023) The Luna-25 automatic lunar lander, which is set to be launched by Russia's Roscosmos in August, has been delivered to the Vostochny spaceport, the state space corporation said on Tuesday.
"The Lavochkin Research and Production Association has completed the creation of the Luna-25 automatic station ... On July 10, the station was sent from the enterprise to the cosmodrome, where it was delivered today by air and road transport," Roscosmos said in a statement.
At Vostochny in Russia's Far East, the lunar lander mission, will undergo pre-launch training, final ground tests and docking with the Fregat upper stage of a carrier rocket, which is also designed and manufactured by Russia's NPO Lavochkin.
The launch of Luna-25, which will become the first Russian satellite sent to the Moon in almost 50 years, is scheduled for August.
Unlike its Soviet predecessors which landed at the Moon's equator, Luna-25 is supposed to make a soft landing at the South Pole, in an area with more challenging terrain. Then, the mission will examine the lunar soil for the presence of ice.
