Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday that the Luna-25 probe, Russia’s first Moon mission in nearly 50 years, has crashed on the Moon after an incident during pre-landing maneuvers.
Roscosmos said contact with Luna-25 was lost at 2:57 pm (1157 GMT) on Saturday.
According to preliminary findings, “the lander has ceased to exist after hitting the lunar surface”.
“Efforts made on August 19 and 20 to locate and contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful,” the space agency said.
It added that a ministerial inquiry would be launched into the cause of the accident, without specifying whether technical problems might have been involved.