Russia’s Academy of Sciences (RAS) has said the launches of three spacecraft – Luna-28, Luna-29, and Luna-30 – have been postponed to between 2032 and 2036.
The academy’s Vice President Sergei Chernyshev announced the delays on Tuesday, according to Russian state-run news agency Interfax, hours after astronauts on board the American Artemis 2 travelled deeper into space than any other human.
The Luna-29 spacecraft is now scheduled to launch in 2032, the launch of Luna-30 is 2034, and Luna-28 is expected to take off in 2036, the agency reported.
It is not the first time delays have been announced for Russia’s space program in recent months. Last August, it was reported that the launch of the Luna-26 orbiter, which will search for landing sites on the moon, had been delayed by at least a year.
Interfax, citing pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia, said the mission was now set to take off in 2028, while the Venera-D mission to study Venus was pushed back to 2036.
No reason has been cited for the recent postponement, and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is yet to comment.
