Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft encountered difficulties entering orbit before landing, which could delay the mission. 

Russia's lunar mission hit a potential snag when Luna-25 attempted to enter a pre-landing orbit on Saturday. This means that Luna-25, their first  lander in nearly 50 years, will attempt the same orbit as the Chandrayaan-3 lander, but the maneuver failed. 

Launched on August 10, just after Chandrayaan-3, Luna-25 aimed for the moon's south pole before India's spacecraft by August 21. Yet, Russia encountered an 'abnormal situation' during Luna-25's preflight descent. 

What Actually occurred with Luna-25? 

"The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced in a Telegram message: "During the procedure an abnormal situation occurred in the automatic station, which did not enable the procedure to be carried out as planned. 

Roscosmos is investigating the situation, reporting that initial lunar flight data contained chemical elements from the lunar soil. Their instruments also detected a "micrometeorite impact," according to the Associated Press.