Guests: John Batchelor, Anatoly Zak Dr. David Livingston.  Topics:  The failed landing of the Russian Luna 25 mission and why. 

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John Batchelor and I welcomed back Anatoly Zak for a debrief on the failed Luna 25 mission that crashed into the higher latitudes of the lunar southern hemisphere/south pole area.  The crash happened when the deorbit burn to put the payload into the prelanding lunar orbit failed, the rockets kept firing and the payload made a ballistic run to the surface of the Moon.  Anatoly said the investigation was still underway.  Toward the end of the segment I asked Anatoly if anyone would be held accountable if they could trace the problem to a person in charge or something like that. Don't miss what he said about Russian accountability.  While he reported that Roscosmos said they would repeat the mission in the 2025-26 time frame, Anatoly told us why he did not think that would happen.  John asked about rumors of Russia having "Go Fever" to beat the Indians to surface and that caused the error.  Anatoly said he has heard the same rumors meaning they would have rushed to beat India and would not have done all the checks and corrections; thus the error was made. He said the rumors were not confirmed at this time, but he would not be surprised if that were the case.

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You can email Mr. Batchelor or Anatoly Zak through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Anatoly can also be reached through his own website:   www.russianspaceweb.com.