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Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft to provide moon photos soon after landing

The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket carrying the Luna-25 automatic station was launched from the Vostochny spaceport early on August 11

The Soyuz 2.1b rocket with a Fregat-M upper stage carrying the Luna-25 lander lifts off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

The Soyuz 2.1b rocket with a Fregat-M upper stage carrying the Luna-25 lander lifts off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East

© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft will provide the first photos of the moon’s polar region in the first hours of landing, Lev Zelyony, scientific director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute and supervisor of the first phase of the lunar program, told TASS.

"In the first hours of landing on the moon, the spacecraft’s cameras will turn on and a signal will be transmitted to the earth. The cameras will take panoramic photos but we don’t expect to see any beautiful views. We will see lunar rocks and the surrounding landscape. Hopefully, these will be among the first photos of the lunar pole," Zelyony noted.

According to him, the spacecraft is equipped with a camera system including overview and panoramic cameras, which will be on during and right after landing.

The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket carrying the Luna-25 automatic station was launched from the Vostochny spaceport early on August 11. The spacecraft is expected to reach the moon and enter orbit on August 16, making a soft landing on the lunar south pole on August 21. The automatic station is the first domestically made spacecraft in recent Russian history to be launched to the moon. The mission’s goal is to carry out research at the moon’s south pole.

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