Russia will launch its first moon landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday to compete with India for the moon's south pole. The launch comes nearly four weeks after India sent its lunar lander Chandrayaan-3, which is scheduled to land on the pole on August 23.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos said its Luna-25 spacecraft will take five days to fly to the moon and then spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before landing at one of three possible landing sites near the poles. On schedule, it could beat or narrowly beat its Indian rival to the lunar surface.