Space Invasion: Vladimir Putin and Russia Launch First Moon Mission in 47 Years

Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s first Moon mission in 47 years this weekend, RadarOnline.com can report.

In a surprising development to come as the 70-year-old leader continues his war against Ukraine on Earth, Russia’s space agency – Roscosmos – reportedly launched a lunar Luna-25 spacecraft into orbit on Friday morning.

The nearly 2000-lb and four-legged spacecraft is reportedly expected to land on the Moon’s south pole in eight days. If successful, it would mark the first spacecraft to land on the Moon’s south pole in history.

“If they pull it off it will be a massive technological and scientific achievement,'' Tim Marshall, an expert on the geopolitics of space, said of the mission.

"For the first time in history the lunar landing will take place on the lunar south pole,” Roscosmos official Alexander Blokhin added. “Until now everyone has been landing in the equatorial zone.''

According to Olga Zakutnyaya, who works for the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, the “first goal” of the lunar spacecraft is to “find the water,” “confirm the water is there,” and “study its abundance.”

But Vitaliy Egorov, a Russian space analyst, indicated that the study of the Moon is not Putin and Roscosmos’ primary goal. According to Egorov, Russia wants to secure the first base on the Moon’s south pole.

"Study of the Moon is not the goal,” the Russian space analyst recently explained, according to Daily Star. "The goal is political competition between two superpowers – China and the USA – and a number of other countries which also want to claim the title of space superpower.''

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Putin himself recently spoke about Russia’s space program and the mission to land Russian astronauts on the Moon’s south pole.

“We are guided by the ambition of our ancestors to move forward despite any difficulties and despite external attempts to prevent us from moving,'' Putin said earlier this year, seemingly citing the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions placed on Russia as a consequence of the war.

"I don't think that a lot of people at this point would say that Russia is actually ready to be landing cosmonauts on the moon in the timeframe that we're talking about,” Nelson explained.

Russia’s two previous Moon landing missions – in 2011 and 2016, respectively – both failed.

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Meanwhile, India also reportedly launched a Moon mission this month. That lunar spacecraft – the Chandrayaan-3 – is expected to land on or around August 23.

"The fact that both Russia and India are targeting to land in the same, albeit large, region of the Moon highlights that certain areas are more valuable than others,” Benjamin Silverstein of the Carnegie Space Project said.

The U.S. is reportedly scheduled to launch a similar mission later this decade.