Russia's Luna-25 beams back first images from race to lunar south pole

Now, Luna-25 has captured its first images from space and beamed them back to mission control. The images were taken on Sunday, August 13, and published by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS).

The images show the Luna-25 spacecraft with Earth and the Moon in the background. The Russian flag and the Luna-25 mission patch are also clearly visible.

"These images show the elements of the device's design against the background of the Earth, from which we have already departed forever, and against the background of the moon, to which we will soon arrive," Russian space agency Roscosmos explained in a statement shared via Telegram.

The images shared alongside the statement were taken some 192,625 miles (310,000 km) from Earth. On average, the Moon is roughly 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth, meaning Luna-25 doesn't have far to go.

"All systems of the spacecraft are operating normally, communication with the station is stable, and the energy balance is positive," IKI RAS wrote in a separate statement.

Will Luna-25 beat Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon?

Russia's Luna-25 lander is expected to arrive on the Moon today, August 15. Once there, it will orbit the Moon for five to seven days, meaning it should land on the lunar south pole around August 22.

If all goes according to plan, the lunar lander will operate on the Moon's surface for a year. During that time, it will analyze lunar soil, search for ice water, and investigate the Moon's incredibly thin atmosphere. It will do so using eight instruments, including a laser mass spectrometer.

Meanwhile, India's Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander entered lunar orbit on August 7. However, that mission will orbit the Moon longer than Luna-25, meaning it will likely touch down on the lunar south pole just after the Russian mission on August 23.

The world's leading space agencies have set their sights on the lunar south pole because scientists believe there are pockets of water ice hidden beneath lunar soil and inside shadowed craters that never catch sunlight due to their angle relative to the Sun.

There are some interesting parallels between the first exploration of the lunar south pole and the earliest days of lunar exploration.

Russia was the first country ever to send a probe to the Moon — the country's Luna-2 mission in 1959 was the first to reach the Moon, and Luna-9 in 1966 was the first to make a soft landing on the lunar surface.

The first crewed landing was, of course, carried out by NASA's Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Now, Russia looks set to be the first country to perform a soft landing on the lunar south pole ahead of NASA's Artemis III mission set for no earlier than 2025. Artemis III will be the first to send a crew to the lunar south pole.