Chandrayaan-3: Here's the truth behind viral video claiming to show lift-off from plane

A video of a rocket launch has been doing rounds on the internet with the claim that it shows the liftoff of India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon mission. However, the video, shot from inside an aircraft, is old and not related to India’s mission.

Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third lunar mission which launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Several videos of the historic launch were shared on social media. One of the clips claimed to capture the LVM3-M4 rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) blasting off from the ground.

In the video, a rocket is seen launching as it leaves a smoke trail behind. The wing and the engine of the aircraft, from which the clip was recorded, are also visible.

The video is old and is not related to the Indian lunar mission. According to a report in Space.com, the clip was first shared in 2021 by a Twitter user with the caption: “My plane happened to be flying by Cape Canaveral during the Atlas V launch yesterday”.

The report said that the clip shows a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket being launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, US, on May 18. The CEO of ULA, Tony Bruno, had responded to the video by calling it cool.

The passenger, who recorded it, was aboard a long-haul Delta Flight 644 which usually flies from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Cancun, Mexico, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

Meanwhile, India is aiming to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface and become the fourth country to do so after the US, the former Soviet Union, and China.

Also Read:

• Watch: India's Chandrayaan-3 lifts off for historic Moon mission

• India's Chandrayaan-3 prepares to land on Moon: Here are other countries that have achieved this feat

• Chandrayaan-3 lifts off: What's next in India's mission to the moon?

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