Russia has reported that its Luna-25 spacecraft which launched earlier this month has crashed into the moon.
The unmanned robot lander crashed after it spun into uncontrolled orbit, Russia’s space corporation Roskosmos reported on Sunday.
It comes after the country reported an “abnormal situation” that its specialists were analysing on Saturday.
The mission was the country’s first to the lunar surface in almost 50 years.
Russia had hoped that the robot would spend a year collecting samples of rock and dust after landing on the moon’s south pole, which was due to happen on Monday.
However, the space corporation said it lost contact with the craft after it ran into unspecified trouble while preparing for the pre-landing orbit.
“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” Roskosmos said in a statement on Sunday.
A picture taken from the camera of the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25. Pic: Roscosmos