MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday blamed a malfunction in an on-board control unit for causing its first lunar mission in 47 years to crash into the moon in August.
The state space corporation, Roscosmos, said the control unit failed to turn off the propulsion system, which blasted for one and a half times longer than necessary as the craft hurtled towards the moon.
Luna-25 spun out of control on Aug. 19 and crashed into the moon, dashing Moscow's hopes that it would beat India to the unexplored south pole of the moon. An Indian spacecraft landed there on Aug. 23.
