MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. The final decision on the date of Luna-25, the first lunar mission in the history of modern Russia, will be made in March-April 2022, said Igor Mitrofanov, the head of nuclear planetology department at the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"The final decision on the launch date will be made somewhere in March or April, when there is full understanding of results of all ground tests of the spacecraft," Mitrofanov told TASS.

According to the scientist, the closest launch window for the mission would open on May 25, 2022. Good ballistic conditions would remain in place until July 2022.

"I believe that, most likely, the launch date would be somewhere between May and July of the next year," he added.

Earlier, Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told TASS the Luna-25 automatic station would be launched in May-July 2022.

Russia's first lunar mission since the Soviet Union is planned to be followed by the Luna-26 probe in 2024, the Luna-27 station in 2025 and the Luna-28 vehicle in 2027-2028.