Russia's first lunar mission in 47 years smashes into the moon in failure

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's first moon mission in 47 years failed when its Luna-25 space craft spun out of control and crashed into the moon after a problem preparing for pre-landing orbit, underscoring the post-Soviet decline of a once mighty space programme. Russia's state space corporation, Roskosmos, said it had lost contact with the craft at 11:57 GMT on Saturday after a problem as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit. A soft landing had been planned for Monday. "The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with...