Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: Roscosmos/JSC NPO Lavochkina

Roscosmos and JSC NPO Lavochkina both report progress in readying the Soyuz booster complex at the Vostochny Space Center for launch of Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander.

Late last week, specialists were on task preparing and checking all systems and units before receiving the space rocket. 

Image credit: Roscosmos Television Video/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Luna-25 automatic interplanetary station is set for August, with the probe to touch down in the Moon’s south pole region.

Luna-25 mascot.
Image credit: Roscosmos

Luna-25 is Russia’s re-rendezvous with Moon exploration, picking up where the former Soviet Union left off in 1976.

The spacecraft is to try out technology for soft landing, take and analyze the soil and conduct other scientific research, as well as study the upper layer of the surface regolith in the region of the south pole of the Moon, as well as the lunar exosphere.