Russia launched today, Friday, its "Luna-25" space probe, to explore the moon, in the first mission of its kind in nearly 50 years.

The Soyuz carrier rocket with the probe on board was launched from the "Vostochny Cosmodorm" space base, and the probe exited the Earth's atmosphere on schedule after a few minutes.

"The launch was a success," said Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos.

The probe will land at the south pole of the moon, where it will search for water and collect soil samples.

The probe is expected to cover the distance to the moon in four and a half days, although the head of the Russian Space Agency said the hope is that the landing on the lunar surface will be smooth on August 21, as the first step will be to search for an ideal place to land the probe.

Borisov explained that everything is going smoothly.

"Luna-25" is helping to develop technology for soft landing, and to do so, it will collect and analyze soil samples from the moon. The planned scientific research also includes studying the surface layers in the lunar south pole region, in addition to its environmental cover. The mission has been delayed several times due to technical problems.

It is noteworthy that "Luna-25" is part of the Russian lunar program that seeks to build a space station by 2040, and the last time Moscow sent the "Luna-24" probe to the moon was in 1976.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency