Russia launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on August 11 in a bid to be the first country to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole, a region believed to hold coveted pockets of water ice. The Russian lunar mission, the first since 1976, is racing against India, which launched its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month, and more broadly with the United States and China, both of which have advanced lunar-exploration programs targeting the lunar south pole. A Soyuz 2.1 rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft blasted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, 5,550 kilometers east of Moscow, at 2:11 a.m. Moscow time. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.
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