NEW satellite photos have revealed the likely landing site of Russia’s failed lunar lander, which crashed into the moon’s surface last month.
The 800kg Luna-25 probe was smashed to pieces as it plunged from orbit onto the surface – in the latest humiliation for Vladimir Putin.
APThe brand new crater was spotted on the lunar surface[/caption]
The disaster mission has made Putin a laughing stock
Now, a NASA spacecraft which orbits the moon has found the likely crash site of the Luna 25 lander, which was Russia’s first moon mission in nearly 50 years.
NASA‘s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter said the Luna 25’s impact created a crater 33 feet across.
The fresh crater is around 250miles from where the spacecraft was meant to land.
NASA’s spacecraft found no evidence of a crater in this spot in pictures taken during a flyover last year.
Since the newfound crater is close to where scientists believe Russia‘s lunar lander crashed, “it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor, NASA said in a statement.
Russia had hoped that the robot would spend a year collecting samples of rock and dust.
Russian sources are already blaming endemic corruption inside the agency for the failure of the mission.
The top rocket scientist who aided with the launch mysteriously died from “mushroom poisoning” only weeks after the failed landing.
Professor Vitaly Melnikov, 77, had headed up the Department of Rocket and Space Systems at RSC Energia, Moscow’s leading spacecraft manufacturer.
Doctors were unable to save him after battling the “severe poisoning” for more than two weeks.
The circumstances surrounding his death have not been confirmed.
Melnikov had worked as chief researcher at TsNIIMASH, a division of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
Professor Melnikov’s death comes just weeks after astronomer Mikhail Marov, 90, suffered a “sharp deterioration” in his health following the Putin’s humiliating moon crash.
Russia has witnessed a spate of mysterious or suspicious deaths in the past two years since Vladimir Putin started preparing for his war in Ukraine.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin became the latest to join a staggering body count of at least 40 high-profile deaths linked to bloodstained hand of the ruthless tyrant.
East2WestThe crater was created by the Luna 25 Russian lander[/caption]
APThe catastrophic failure has humiliated Russia[/caption]
APThe new crater could be seen via satellite imagery[/caption]
APPutin had bragged about the new lunar device[/caption]