The failure of the Moon expedition last August is a painful memory for the Russians
The unsuccessful mission of a lunar probe is not a disaster in itself, because it has happened to other countries (India, Israel, Japan). Therefore, his psychological influence on Russian scientists was rather significant. According to the 90-year-old leading scientist Mihail Marov, the main cause of the accident was technological and development lag, and according to his statement last year, it is incomprehensible why what was successful 47 years ago has not been successful now.
Marov was considered President Putin’s number one personal consultant on aerospace matters, and because of his decisive influence, he was considered the de facto scientific director of Roskosmos, not Borisov. The elderly scientist suffered a stroke as a result of the unsuccessful expedition and died in November.
Luna-25 successfully launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the Amur region on August 11. It was the first lunar mission of the post-Soviet era, so it was a particularly important prestige issue for Russia. On August 17, the station took its first images of the far side of the Moon. The vehicle was preparing to land on the 19th when it went out of control and eventually crashed onto the Moon. (source: euronews.com)
