A selfie taken by the Luna 25 probe on 15 August, on the way to the moon Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS
Russia’s first moon mission in nearly half a century has ended in disaster, as a lander due to softly touch down at the lunar south pole instead slammed into the surface at speed.
The Luna 25 mission was named in continuation of the Soviet Union’s missions of the 1970s, which ended with Luna 24 bringing samples of moon rock back to Earth in 1976. The new mission launched on 11 August atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome…
![Small dome in the Compton-Belkovich region (61.33 ?N, 99.68 ?E). Evidence indicates a volcanic origin for this and other intriguing features in the region. Incidence angle is 64?, Sun is from the SSW, image is ~510 m across. NAC image number M139238146L [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].](https://images.newscientistbeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/07172644/SEI_163208069.jpg)
