Hours after Luna-25 crash, top Russian scientist hospitalised

A top scientist and astronomer who worked on Russia's Luna-25 mission to the Moon was hospitalised hours after the spacecraft crashed on August 19.

According to the Independent, 90-year-old Mikhail Marov's health deteriorated sharply after the failure of the mission.

Locals media reported that the scientist was worried after Luna-25 crashed and had called it a 'matter of life'. He added that it was his last hope to see the revival of Russia's lunar mission.

The lunar mission was Russia's first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union. Only three countries have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft launched on July 14 to be the first to reach the south pole. Both were expected to reach the moon between Aug. 21 and Aug. 23.

A previous Indian attempt to land at the moon's south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon's surface.

Luna-25 launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Aug. 10. The spaceport is a pet project of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower.

Before the launch, Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia's guaranteed access to the moon's surface.” Following the crash, the Russian space agency said the moon mission was about ensuring long-term “defense capability” as well as “technological sovereignty.”

The Luna-25 was initially meant to carry a small moon rover, but the idea was abandoned to reduce the weight of the craft for improved reliability, analysts said.

The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain frozen water in the rocks that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel.