Russia hasn’t sent any spacecraft to the moon since 1976, but that streak ended Friday morning with the liftoff of a Soyuz 2.1v rocket that’s hoping to land on the moon’s south pole.
The flight is a move meant to bring the country back into the modern space race, as the United States gears up for a manned lunar mission in either 2025 or 2026. India and China are also racing to the moon, with India launching a lunar lander last month.
