New Russian mission to the moon fails

Russia's first moon mission in 47 years failed after the Luna-25 spacecraft lost control and crashed into the lunar surface.

Russia's state-owned space association, Roscosmos, announced in a statement that it had lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after an "abnormal situation" occurred when the craft went into orbit before landing.

"The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon," Roscosmos said in a statement.

The spacecraft departed on Aug. 11 from Russia and entered orbit on Wednesday, Aug. 16. The Roskosmos agency reported that the craft's systems were working normally at all times and sent images of the lunar surface back to Earth.

The failed mission was scheduled to land on the lunar surface on Aug. 21. Its goal was to land on the lunar south pole and take samples.