Roscosmos/Vostochny Space Centre/Handout via REUTERS/File photoMOSCOW, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Russia on Sunday switched on the scientific instruments aboard its lunar lander and scientists began processing its first data as the space craft sped towards the moon in a bid to be first to find ice on the Earth's only natural satellite.
As it hurtles towards the moon, which is 384,400 km (238,855 miles) from our planet, the scientific instruments were switched on with the first data on the flight measured, Russia's space agency said.
"The first measurement data on the flight to the Moon has been obtained, and the project's scientific team has begun processing it," Roscosmos said.
There is much riding on the Luna-25 mission for Russia: if it succeeds, Russia is likely to say it shows that the West's sanctions over the Ukraine war cannot hold Russia back.
But failure would again raise questions over Russia's space ambitions after the decades of superpower space competition with the United States during the Cold War.
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