Vostochny Cosmodrome
 Vostochny Cosmodrome(Spaceport)    | |
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 The Soyuz-2.1B rocket, with the Luna-25 moon lander, takes off from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East, on Friday 11 August 2023 (photo: Roscosmos State Space Corporation) | |
The Vostochny Cosmodrome or Eastern Spaceport is a Russian spaceport located above the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East. It is intended to reduce Russia's dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Vostochny Cosmodrome saw the first successful flight of commercial payloads aboard a Soyuz 2.1A rocket on Thursday 27 December 2018 at 11:07am local time (9:07pm EST, Dec. 26).[1] The most recent launch took place at 2:10am Moscow time on Friday 11 August 2023 (23:10 GMT Thursday), according to live images broadcast by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
On 13 September 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the facilities at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, ahead of planned high-level talks between the two countries.[2]
Contents
Luna-25 launches
The launch of the Luna-25 craft to the moon on Friday was Russia’s first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union and was conducted without assistance from the European Space Agency, which ended cooperation with Russia after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The four-legged lander weighs approximately 800kg (1,750 pounds) and is due to reach lunar orbit in five days.
It will then spend between three and seven days choosing the right spot before landing in the lunar south pole area.
“For the first time in history, the lunar landing will take place on the lunar south pole. Until now, everyone has been landing in the equatorial zone,” senior Roscosmos official Alexander Blokhin said in a recent interview.
Competing with India
The lander is expected to reach the moon’s surface on August 23, around the same time as an Indian craft, which was launched on July 14.
Both countries’ modules are headed for the lunar south pole, an area where no spacecraft has landed smoothly. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.
Roscosmos said the module would operate for one year and “take and analyse soil samples and conduct long-term scientific research” on lunar surface material and the atmosphere. It said it wants to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon”, and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface”.[3]
Luna-25 crashes
On 20 August 2023, Roscosmos reported that the Luna-25 moon lander crashed on the Moon after an incident during pre-landing manoeuvres.
According to preliminary findings, the lander "has ceased to exist following a collision with the Moon's surface."
"Measures taken on August 19 and 20 to locate the craft and make contact with it were unsuccessful," the space agency added.[4]
About Luna-25
On 20 August 2023, Scott Ritter tweeted:
- “It is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better.
- "The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
- "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt[5]
References
- ↑ "Russia inaugurates Vostochny Cosmodrome with semi-commercial Soyuz launch"
- ↑ "Putin, Kim inspect Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome facilities"
- ↑ "Russia launches first mission to the moon in nearly 50 years"
- ↑ "Russia's Luna-25 Probe Crashes on the Moon – Roscosmos"
- ↑ "About Luna-25: Russia was in the Arena"
| Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspect the facilities at the Vostochny Cosmodrome |
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