Russia to evacuate village for first lunar lander mission in half
century
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[August 07, 2023]
(Reuters) - Russia will evacuate a village in its far east on
Aug. 11 as part of the launch of Russia's first lunar lander mission in
nearly half a century, a local official said on Monday.
The Luna-25 lunar lander, Russia's first since 1976, will be launched
from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, some 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of
Moscow, according to Russia's Roscosmos space agency. |
General view of the launch pad after a
Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying Lomonosov, Aist-2D and SamSat-218
satellites took off at the new Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of
Uglegorsk, about 200 kms from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far
eastern Amur region, Russia April 28, 2016. REUTERS/Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool/File
Photo |
The
residents of the Shakhtinskyi settlement in Russia's Khabarovsk
region, southeast of the launch site, will be evacuated early
morning on Aug. 11, as the village lies in the predicted area
where the rocket boosters will fall after they separate.
"The mouth of the Umalta, Ussamakh, Lepikan, Tastakh, Saganar
rivers and the area of the ferry crossing on the Bureya River
fall into the predicted (booster) fall zone," Alexei Maslov,
head of the Verkhnebureinskyi district in the Khabarovsk region,
said on the Telegram messaging app. "The residents of
Shakhtinskyi will be evacuated."
Luna-25 will launch on a Soyuz-2 Fregat booster and will be the
first lander to arrive on the South Pole of the moon, Roscosmos
has said.
The main objective of the mission will be the development of
soft-landing technologies, research of the internal structure of
the Moon and exploration for resources, including water.
The lander is expected to operate on the lunar surface for one
year.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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