MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Russia will persevere with its lunar program despite its recent failed mission, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday as he commented on the Luna-25 lander crash.
"Of course, the entire nation followed the lunar mission. But you and I know the path to the stars is beset with difficulties," the Russian presidential spokesman said. "Carrying on with Russia’s space program, a unique space program that also includes a lunar element, is key," he added.
According to Peskov, the failed Luna-25 mission is no reason to fret, but Russia should analyze its causes and right these wrongs before making another attempt. "We are aware that outer space exploration or the implementation of complex space programs does not always go smoothly. But this is not a reason to despair <…>. This is all the more reason to analyze the causes [of the failure] and correct them for next time," he said.
The Kremlin spokesman pledged further efforts to continue with what he said were "quite ambitious plans."
The Soyuz-2.1b vehicle carrying the Luna-25 autonomous probe was launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the early hours of August 11. The spacecraft adjusted its flight path twice on August 12 and 14. The unmanned probe entered near-lunar orbit on August 16, and was scheduled to land on the surface of the moon on August 21.
However, communication with the lunar lander was lost after the spacecraft received an impulse to activate its pre-landing elliptical orbit on August 19.
Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said that an ad hoc commission had been set up to investigate the causes of the failed Luna-25 mission. He specified that the abnormal operation of the lunar probe’s thrusters in its orbit adjustment was behind the automatic station’s crash: the engines operated for 127 seconds instead of the scheduled 84.