Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon after spinning into an uncontrolled orbit, officials say.
The unmanned craft was due to make a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole, but failed after encountering issues as it moved into its pre-landing orbit.
It was Russia’s first Moon mission in almost 50 years.
The spacecraft was scheduled to land on Monday to explore a part of the Moon which scientists think could hold frozen water and precious elements.
Roskosmos, Russia’s state space corporation, said it lost contact with the Luna-25 shortly after running into difficulties.
There probably isn’t a worse war in terms of property damage per money spent to damage it you could come up with. Setting up a system of mining minerals, sending it back to earth, and making money on the process is going to be the biggest megaproject you can imagine. All of it very easy to break.