Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured that Russia will continue its lunar mission, which has been postponed several times. On the occasion of Cosmonautics Day, Putin said that “despite the difficulties and efforts from abroad,” Russia will “carry out all its plans” for space, including the Vostochny Cosmodrome, collected by the state agency RIA Novosti, according to the “Moon Program”.
These plans include the Luna-25 mission, which aims to investigate the satellite’s south pole and collect samples by launching a robotic vehicle moving on its surface. Its launch was scheduled for October 2021, but was initially delayed until August 22, 2022 on the grounds that more time was needed to conduct additional tests on the ship’s equipment.
It is no coincidence that Putin is announcing the conquest of the moon in his speech. The moon is a symbol of US victory in the Cold War against the USSR. The USSR sent the first Sputnik satellite into space in 1957. The USSR sent the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space in 1961. But the United States won the race to the moon with the Apollo program and the first landing of three astronauts. On a satellite in 1969.
The Luna-25 mission will be the first in 46 years, the successor to its Soviet predecessor Luna-24, the third to collect samples from the lunar surface launched in August 1976. Russia has not sent any missions to the satellite since.
The unmanned spacecraft will have a mass spectrometer that will study the chemical composition of the lunar surface, a neutral and charged particle detector, a lunar dust detector and an infrared spectrometer along with other instruments.
In addition, the Luna-25 will have a camera system that will capture the lunar surface and record lunar panoramas during landing.
So far Russia has not sent any astronauts to the moon, but in mid-2019 Russia announced that it would resume its lunar program and that it planned to send the first manned flight to the moon in 2030 or 2031. Prior to that, several unmanned missions would follow the moon.-26 and prepare the ground with maps of the satellite’s surface.
In order to take its astronauts to the moon, the Russian space industry has been working since 2009 to build a new generation of spacecraft that will have six crew members.
Putin, in the context of the Ukraine war and after leaving the international space programs in which he participated, justifies the Russian space program and the space race conducted by the USSR.
The Russian president assured this Tuesday that “Russia has won a difficult race for leadership in space in the past” and that this generation of Soviet astronauts “has left examples of cooperation and will.”
Space Alliance with Belarus
During a visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Putin was accompanied by his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. Russia says the two countries plan to jointly build a “space infrastructure” that provides “independent access to space” without further details of those plans.
As part of the alliance, Putin asked the Russian space agency Roskosmos to conduct “space travel training” for a Belarusian-selected crew member, and announced that Belarusian companies, specialists and workers would participate in joint space programs.
The changes in the Russian legislation have already been approved by the State Duma and the decision of the Federation Council should be made in the near future and, of course, will be signed immediately, I will sign the new law. Said about the deal.
The future of the International Space Station in the air
The war in Ukraine destroyed many years of cooperation between Russia, the United States and Europe in space exploration.
Russia has withdrawn its personnel from the Kuru space port in French Guiana and canceled Soyuz launches to launch European satellites into orbit.
On March 17, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the suspension of the ExoMars mission, one of the most ambitious joint projects between Russia and Europe. Dmitry Rogozin, director of Roscosmos at the Russian space agency, then persuaded Russia to send its own expedition to the Red Planet.
On March 22, American astronauts Mark Vandey and Russian astronauts Anton Shkaplerov and Piotr Dubrov returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft capsule. Russia jokingly came up with the idea of leaving Wande Haye in the middle of the war, but eventually three members of the crew returned from the mission without any problems.
On April 2, Russia also threatened to suspend cooperation with the ISS over sanctions over the Ukraine war. There is a “Russian segment” (Zvezda module) on the ISS, from which the orbits and trajectories of the whole complex are periodically corrected. In addition, this Russian sector serves as a port for Soyuz ships carrying and carrying personnel and cargo from Earth. It is unclear whether the ISS can operate normally without Russian assistance.
Source: El Diario
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
