Rocket carrying Russian probe to Moon lifts off

MOSCOW, Russia—Russia launched a Soyuz rocket carrying a probe to the Moon on Friday, live images showed, kicking off its first mission to the celestial body in nearly 50 years.

The rocket with the Luna-25 probe lifted off at 02:10 am Moscow time (07:10 Friday Manila time) from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, according to live images broadcast by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

The spacecraft is due to reach lunar orbit in five days, will remain on the Moon for a year, and will be tasked with “taking (samples) and analyzing the soil” as well as “conducting longterm scientific research”, the Russian space agency said.

It will then spend between three and seven days choosing the right spot before landing in the lunar south pole area.

Roscosmos expects the probe to land on the Moon around August 21, a source in the agency told AFP.

The launch is the first mission in Russia’s new lunar program, which gets underway at a time when Roscosmos is being deprived of its partnerships with the West amid the conflict with Ukraine.

This is the first lunar mission for postSoviet Russia. The last one took place in 1976, when the USSR was a pioneer in the conquest of space.

The mission is important for the Russian space sector, which is suffering from funding problems, corruption scandals and increasing competition from the United States and China, as well as from private initiatives such as billionaire Elon Musk’s Space X.

According to Russian space expert Vitali Iegorov, the mission is the first time that post-Soviet Russia has attempted to place a device on a celestial body.

“The biggest question will be: can it land?” he told AFP, stressing that this mission is “of great importance” for Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has pledged to continue Russia’s space program despite sanctions, pointing to the USSR’s sending of the first man into space in 1961, at a time of escalating East-West tensions.

“We are guided by the ambition of our ancestors to move forward, despite difficulties and external attempts to prevent us from doing so,” Putin said at the Vostochny Cosmodrome last year.

The mission is important for the Russian space sector, which is suffering from funding problems, corruption scandals and increasing competition from the United States and China, as well as from private initiatives such as billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. AFP

The flames moved so quickly that many were caught off-guard, trapped in the streets or jumping into the ocean in a desperate bid to escape.

“In 1960 we had 61 fatalities when a large wave came through Big Island,” Governor Josh Green said, referring to a tragedy that struck a year after Hawaii became the 50th US state.

“This time, it’s very likely that our death totals will significantly exceed that.”

Officials in Maui County said the confirmed number of dead now stood at 53, and firefighters were still battling the blaze.

Lahaina on Thursday lay in charred, smoking ruins, with Green saying 80 percent of the town was gone.

“There is no doubt everyone would describe this as though a bomb hit Lahaina,” he said.

“It looks like total devastation; buildings that we’ve all enjoyed and celebrated together for decades, for generations, are completely destroyed.”