
Russia's first lunar lander since 1976 has beamed back its first images from space.
The Luna-25 mission lifted off on Aug. 10 atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur Region, marking the first domestically produced probe sent to the moon in modern Russian history. The last moon mission from what is now Russia, Luna-24, took off in 1976 and returned about 6.2 ounces (170 grams) of lunar samples. The launch of Luna-25 faced multiple delays due in part to Russia's war on Ukraine, which has had wide-ranging effects on international spaceflight cooperation.