MOSCOW

Russia plans to launch its first lunar space mission in modern times on July 13, state corporation Roscosmos announced on Thursday.

"The launch of the Luna-25 spacecraft is scheduled for 13.07.2023, taking into account the astronomical 'window' in 2023," Roscosmos said in a statement.

The unmanned mission had originally been planned for 2022 but was postponed due to technical reasons.

Roscosmos hopes to land the Luna-25, the first domestically produced spacecraft of this type in post-Soviet Russia, on the surface of Earth's satellite.

The purpose of the project is to send an robotic probe to conduct research near the Moon's south pole.