We find ourselves back in a space race, with the goal once again the Moon. We’re not talking about the larger space race involving the US, Russia, and China, however, but a much more immediate one that could result in Russia beating India to the Moon’s South Pole next week by a mere two days. The race, as they say, is on.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission launched back in July and, all going well, should arrive and deposit its lunar lander somewhere near the Moon’s South Pole on August 23 or 24. Russia surprised everyone with its announcement last week of the launch of its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years, the much-anticipated – and very late – Lunar-25. Launching last Friday, calculations show that, all going well, it is possible Russia could actually beat India to the lunar surface, potentially landing on August 21.

And it does look like it’s all going well. Russia has just confirmed Lunar-25 has reached Moon orbit, and has released the first photos from the mission, including a selfie showing a tiny Earth and Moon in the background.

Roscosmos confirmed Lunar-25 reached the Moon’s orbit today at 8:57 am UTC, where it will circle the Moon for five days before attempting a soft landing on Monday, August 21, at least two days before India’s earliest planned landing.  

The lander is set to revolve 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the lunar surface before landing in the Boguslawsky crater in the South Pole. It's due to stay on the Moon for at least a year, collecting samples and analyzing the lunar soil. 

This would make Russia the first country to land at the lunar South Pole, which is also the goal of India and the planned Artemis 3 mission to land humans back on the Moon. If you're wondering why the lunar South Pole has suddenly become the hottest place to be in the Solar System, what’s exciting about the area is the presence of water ice in some of its permanently shaded craters. Water will be a very precious resource for any humans set to explore our natural satellite in the future. 

If successful, Lunar-25 joins Chang'e 4, China's lander, whose rover Yutu-2 has been pottering around the far side of the Moon since 2019. If Chandrayaan-3 is successful (Chandrayaan-2 arrived at the Moon but unfortunately crash landed and was lost), the lunar population will be brought up to three, and is set to skyrocket in the next few years. 

But the goal is not just getting there first, it's getting there in one piece. Landing is extremely treacherous. All eyes will be on Lunar-25 to follow how the race develops.