Russia's spacecraft, Luna-25 on Sunday crashed into the surface of the Moon after spinning into an uncontrolled orbit making Russia's first moon mission in 47 years a failure.

“During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters," the Russian space agency Roscosmos informed.

It further said that, at about 11:57 GMT on Saturday, all communication with Luna-25 was lost.

The space agency said that an investigation will be launched to look into the causes of the crash, without giving any explanation of what technical problems did it actually occurred.

Luna-25 which was launched on August 11, 2023 was expected to do a soft landing on the south pole of the moon on August 21.

It was aimed to operate for 1 year from the South pole of the moon.

Meanwhile, India's Chandrayaan 3 is all set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 Hrs. IST. 

“Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 Hrs. IST. Thanks for the wishes and positivity! Let’s continue experiencing the journey together,” Isro announced on X (formerly Twitter).

“The lander module (comprising the lander 'Vikram' and rover 'Pragyan') will now undergo internal checks and await Sunrise at the designated landing site. Powered descent is expected to commence on August 23 at around 5.45pm.

Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the lunar surface around 6.04pm,” Isro said.

The landing will be telecast on the Isro website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 5.27pm on August 23.

It the landing is successful, it will spend one lunar day which is equivalent to 14 earth days. 

(With inputs from TOI)