A Russian spacecraft has crashed into the
Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit,
Russia's national space agency Roskosmos says.

Roskosmos said it had lost contact with the
unmanned craft shortly after a problem
occurred as the craft was shunted into 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.

The spacecraft was scheduled to land on the
south pole of the Moon on Monday.

The crash follows a technical glitch the rocket
experienced as it was preparing to transfer to
its pre-landing orbit on Saturday.

The crash marks a failure in Russia's first
Moon expedition in 47 years.  Russia has
not attempted a moon mission since Luna-24
in 1976.

—The only way to describe this disaster is to
say it's totally unacceptable, and Russia and
Putin need to be soundly condemned by the
rest of the free world.  And, of course, who'll
be responsible for tidying up all this sort of
crap they've now dumped on the moon?  Russia?

The Moon is a resilient community and will come through this with cold firmness as always.

AusGeoff wrote on Aug 20^th, 2023 at 7:44pm:

And, of course, who'll be responsible for tidying up all this sort of crap they've now dumped on the moon?  Russia?

Jewish space lasers?   :-/

As Putin said at the bigginning of his war, Russia is technologically decades ahead of the West. Remind me again, when did NASA land on the moon?

Rusian ruble has crashed.
Is an inactive NASA vehicle different from a Russian crash? Why?

AusGeoff wrote on Aug 20^th, 2023 at 7:44pm:

"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.

Another "rapid unscheduled disassembly".

:)

Ukraine has denied all responsibility, blaming Siberian amateur radio operators. Putin took their fire trucks.

AusGeoff wrote on Aug 20^th, 2023 at 7:44pm:

—The only way to describe this disaster is to say it's totally unacceptable, and Russia and Putin need to be soundly condemned by the rest of the free world.  And, of course, who'll be responsible for tidying up all this sort of crap they've now dumped on the moon?  Russia?

Why should Putin and Russia be condemned for a risky space mission that goes wrong. They will get it right when they take the learnings on board.

We should be happy it went wrong as there is now a race to claim parts of the moon. That keeps us in the race.

A crashed flag is still a flag. South Moonia is now Rusky under the  Kremlin dictatorship. The Free World owns the rest and is building trenches along the cease-fire line. Oz is down under, a bit to the Left.

https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.3441327229.3410/bg,f8f8f8-flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg

The Kremlin has now lost 50% of its computerised space tanks and is back to rusty Soviet vehicles with steam engines and drum brakes.  Six scientists fell out of Windows.

chimera wrote on Aug 21^st, 2023 at 6:26pm:

The Kremlin has now lost 50% of its computerised space tanks and is back to rusty Soviet vehicles with steam engines and drum brakes.  Six scientists fell out of Windows.

Very clumsy and prone to sudden illness are the Russians.

Russian General Sergei Surovikin, who at one time was commander of Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, has been dismissed as chief of the country’s aerospace forces as heads roll.

The best & brightest of Russia's youth has left the country and are now living in exile. In the long term, what does this mean for their space program?

India landed, good on you India.

Violet Crumble wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2023 at 9:35pm:

The best & brightest of Russia's youth has left the country and are now living in exile. In the long term, what does this mean for their space program?

Russia is nearing victory against the Nazis and can seize their rockets and space scientists. It will be a race against the capitalists who threaten to capture fascist missiles.