A failed lunar mission dents Russian pride and reflects deeper problems with Moscow's space industry

An ambitious but failed attempt by Russia to return to the moon after nearly half a century has exposed the massive challenges faced by Moscow’s once-proud space program. The crash of the robotic Luna-25 probe on the surface of the moon over the weekend, reflects the problems that have dogged Russia's space industry since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Those include the loss of key technologies in the post-Soviet industrial meltdown, the bruising impact of Western sanctions, a huge brain drain and widespread corruption. Yuri Borisov, head of the Roscosmos space agency, blamed the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.