The Russian lunar mission, the first since 1976, is racing against India, which sent up its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month, and more broadly with the United States and China, which both have advanced lunar exploration programs.
A Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow, on Friday at 02:11am Moscow time.
The landing of Luna-25, the first moon mission in the history of modern Russia, is expected to touch the lunar surface on August 21, Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said on Friday.
The official described the mission’s launch as a success.
"We are now waiting for [August] 21. I hope that the highly accurate landing on the Moon will be successful," he said, congratulating the ground crew that conducted the launch.
In his words, the spacecraft is to reach the Moon’s orbit on August 16.
Overall, the mission is expected to take about one year.
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