Russia's space agency has returned its focus to the moon, almost 50 years since the Soviet Union's last lunar landing. The mission's official aim is to search for frozen water near the moon's south pole.
Ednews informs via DW that Russia launched its first lunar mission in nearly half a century on Friday, hoping to be the first to achieve a soft landing on the moon's south pole.
The Luna-25 spacecraft was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket.
"The launch was successful," said Yuri Borisov, head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.
Roscosmos said the rocket would take five days to reach the moon.
The craft will then spend up to seven more days in lunar orbit before descending to one of three possible landing sites.