Russia postpones three planned missions to the Moon

Russia has postponed the launch of three lunar missions, the Interfax news agency has reported. It marks a further slowdown in an ambitious lunar exploration programme at a time when the United States has enjoyed significant success in space.

According to Sergei Chernyshev, vice-president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Luna-28, Luna-29 and Luna-30 missions have been postponed until 2032 – 2036. The original launch dates have not been disclosed. The delays follow last year’s postponements of other projects as well as the crash of the Luna-25 probe, which struck the moon’s surface in 2023.

The Russian leadership regards lunar exploration as important to national interests. After the failure of the Luna-25 mission, the head of the Roskosmos agency stressed the importance of competition for the exploitation of the moon’s natural resources.

The Soviet Union was among the pioneers of cosmonautics, but the Russian space programme has gradually fallen behind that of the United States and, increasingly, China since its collapse.

Meanwhile, Nasa announced that the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission would be the first in more than 50 years to orbit the moon and travel farther into space than any before them.

(reuters, bak)