Roscosmos Director General Yuri Borisov said that Luna-26 is expected to reach the Moon in roughly 22 days, a schedule designed to prevent a repeat of last year’s Luna-25 cancellation. He shared the update during a television interview, outlining the steps planned to keep the project on track and shield it from delays. The emphasis was on building confidence in the mission through a disciplined, phased approach that puts safety and reliability first.
Luna-26 will follow a revised flight scheme. It begins with near-Earth orbits and then transitions to near-lunar trajectories, allowing the spacecraft to test its systems in stages and verify performance across changing environments. The overall transit time from launch to Moon arrival is planned at about 22 days, a timeline that aims to balance momentum with caution and allow for comprehensive checks along the way.
Borisov noted that the updated trajectory is designed to reveal any potential issues early and to validate every piece of equipment that will support the missions operations on and around the Moon. This approach provides critical opportunities to calibrate navigation, propulsion, thermal management, and communication links before committing to lunar operations, reducing risks for the broader program.
Upon arrival, the spacecraft is expected to enter a near-polar lunar orbit to monitor surface activity across the Moon. From this vantage, Luna-26 will help identify candidate landing sites for future missions and will also function as a relay to transmit data after Luna-27’s landing, which is planned for roughly a year later. The orbital configuration is intended to give scientists a global perspective on the Moon and to support a robust communications backbone for subsequent robotic and potential human activities.
Earlier in September, academician Lev Zeleny, who leads the scientific direction of Russia’s early lunar program, warned that budget constraints prevented coordinating two lunar launches simultaneously. He reminded readers that last year Russia attempted a landing mission, but the craft collided with a satellite. In contrast, missions from India, the United States, and Japan have achieved Moon landings, and a Chinese expedition is approaching. Details about these developments were reported by Socialbites.ca.
These remarks come as humanity’s activity on the Moon intensifies and a new wave of international lunar exploration gains momentum, with multiple nations pursuing more ambitious robotic and, in some cases, crewed activities around the Moon. The evolving landscape underscores the strategic importance Russia places on a sustained lunar presence and the broader collaboration that could emerge as nations map out pathways for science, exploration, and future infrastructure at the Moon’s frontier.