At 08:10 Vladivostok time (GMT+10) on Aug. 11 Russia launched a Soyuz-2 rocket with the Luna-25 lander from the new Vostochny Space Center for a scheduled landing on the Moon on Aug. 21. Luna-25 was scheduled for the 1990s, but because of delays in the Russian space program, exiting their traditional launch site at Baikonur, Kazakhstan and delays in the construction of the new Vostochny facility in the Far East, Russia has not had any space mission launches. With the new cooperation with China on a planned lunar research center on the Moon, Lunar-25 received a new lease on life. In coordination with the lunar project, the state-run space corporation Roscosmos plans to launch the Luna-26 moon mission in 2027, Luna-27 in 2028 and Luna-28 in 2030 or later, Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov announced.
After the completion of that series of launchings, Roscosmos will “begin the next phase—a manned mission and the construction of a lunar base—with our colleagues from China,” Borisov said. “This would be a long-lasting and important program and we expect many countries to join it.”
