Russia is ready to launch its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday, August 11, 2023, as the Chandrayaan-3 mission tightens its orbit around the Moon. The Luna-25 mission is set to land on the Moon on August 23, the same day as the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

According to a report by Luna-25 will launch from the Vosthochny cosmodrome in the Russian Far East, less than a month after Chandrayaan-3 travelled from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The Russian mission, like the Indian one, will attempt to land on the lunar south pole, a desirable destination that may retain huge quantities of ice that might be implemented to extract oxygen and fuel in the future.

According to Euro News, this is Russia's first lunar mission since 1976 when the country was still a part of the Soviet Union, and it will be done without the assistance of the European Space Agency (ESA). After Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Space Agency stopped its collaboration with Roscosmos.Luna-25 weighs 1.8 tonnes and carries 31 kilogrammes of scientific equipment, part of which will be used to collect rock samples from up to a depth of 15 centimetres to test for the existence of water, which might be used to support future crewed trips to the Moon. The mission was supposed to launch in October 2021 but has been plagued by many delays.