LONDON — The head of Russia‘s space agency said Monday that the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after its engines failed to shut down correctly, and he blamed the country’s decades-long pause in lunar exploration for the mishap.

The pilotless Luna-25 had been scheduled to land Monday whereas aiming to change into the primary spacecraft to the touch down on the south pole of the moon, an space the place scientists consider necessary reserves of frozen water and treasured components might exist.

Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov mentioned the spacecraft’s engines had been turned on over the weekend to place Luna-25 right into a “pre-landing orbit” however didn't shut down correctly, plunging the lander onto the moon.

“Instead of the planned 84 seconds, it worked for 127 seconds. This was the main reason for the emergency,” Borisov instructed Russian state information channel Russia 24.

Roscosmos had contact with the spacecraft till 2:57 p.m. native time Saturday, when communication was misplaced and “the device passed into an open lunar orbit and crashed into the surface of the moon,” he mentioned.

The lunar mission was Russia’s first since 1976, when it was a part of the Soviet Union. Only three international locations have managed profitable moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

“The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for almost 50 years is the main reason for the failures,” Borisov mentioned, including “it would be the worst decision ever” for Russia to finish this system now.

The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft launched on July 14 to be the primary to succeed in the south pole. Both had been anticipated to succeed in the moon between Aug. 21 and Aug. 23.

A earlier Indian try and land on the moon’s south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon’s floor.

Luna-25 launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Aug. 10. The spaceport is a pet challenge of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia an area superpower.

Before the launch, Roscosmos mentioned it needed to indicate Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface.”

Following the crash, the Russian area company mentioned the moon mission was about making certain long-term “defense capability” in addition to “technological sovereignty.”

“The race to develop the moon’s natural resources has begun,” Borisov mentioned Monday. “In the future, the moon will become an ideal platform for the exploration of deep space.”

Sanctions imposed on Russia because it launched a conflict in Ukraine almost 18 months in the past have affected its area program, making it harder to entry Western know-how.

The Luna-25 was initially meant to hold a small moon rover, however the thought was deserted to scale back the load of the craft for improved reliability, analysts mentioned.

The lunar south pole is of explicit curiosity to scientists, who consider the completely shadowed polar craters might comprise frozen water within the rocks that future explorers might remodel into air and rocket gasoline.

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