“Russia’s launch of its first lunar lander in nearly 50 years on Friday, an attempt to become the first country to reach the south pole of the moon, is a symbolic moment for a country anxious to prove it still has the technological capabilities befitting a great world power….A successful Luna-25 mission could result in a chance for the Putin regime to engage in its usual propaganda aimed at playing down the effect of sanctions on its high-tech aerospace sector,” said Schmitt, a co-founder of Duke University’s Space Diplomacy Lab, in the Wall Street Journal August 11, 2023. “Conversely, a high-profile mission failure might suggest that technology export controls may indeed be having their intended impact.” Read the full article here.
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