Kremlin Plays Down Luna-25’s Failure

Reuters

16:01 JST, September 7, 2023

MOSCOW (Reuters) — The Kremlin on Aug. 29 said that the failure of Russia’s Luna-25 mission to the Moon last month was “nothing terrible” and that the main thing was to continue Russia’s space exploration program.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “This is not a reason to despair, nor to tear our hair out. This is another reason to analyze the causes [of the failure] and eliminate them next time.”

Luna-25, Russia’s first lunar mission since 1976, crashed into the Moon on Aug. 19 after a failed orbital maneuver, in what has been seen abroad as a major blow to the Russian space program. Days later, an Indian spacecraft successfully landed on the moon.

“The main thing is not to stop. Our plans are quite ambitious and they will be implemented further,” Peskov said.