Fact Check: NASA Video Based On Apollo Mission Data Falsely Circulated as Chandrayaan-3 Footage

New Delhi (Vishvas News). After Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Vikram lander achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23, a video went viral on social media where the earth can be seen from a distance. The video also shows a perceived close-up view of the moon’s surface. The viral posts are claiming that this is footage captured by Chandrayaan-3.

Upon investigation, Vishvas News found that the viral video is, in fact, a video released by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2020. And it is not actual footage anyway. This video is a computer-generated set of images based on compiled data collected during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

What is in the viral post?

A Facebook page by the name ‘Sonu Golden Bhai’ was among those who shared the viral video on August 23. The caption read, “Moon Inside View capture by Ch-3. chandrayaan-3 will create history on 23rd August, all pray to God and best wishes.”

The archived link to the post can be accessed here.

Investigation

To check the viral claim, we scanned the video frame by frame. We noticed that one keyframe displays the text, “Once Earth was finally back within sight. the astronauts were able to reestablish radio contact with Mission Control.” We took a screenshot and checked it using Google Lens. We also copied the text from it and searched for its source.

We found that an article published on February 24, 2020, in the NASA website’s Scientific Visualization Studio section, featured the same sentence. The accompanying thumbnail image was the same as the keyframe that was part of the viral video.

We also found this video on this page. According to the information here, this video is based on a data visualization using the multimedia data captured during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

We even found this video on NASA’s official YouTube channel, uploaded on March 2, 2020. The video’s description clearly states: “This video uses data gathered from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft to recreate some of the stunning views of the Moon that the Apollo 13 astronauts saw on their perilous journey around the farside in 1970. These visualizations, in 4K resolution, depict many different views of the lunar surface, starting with earthset and sunrise and concluding with the time Apollo 13 reestablished radio contact with Mission Control. Also depicted is the path of the free return trajectory around the Moon, and a continuous view of the Moon throughout that path. All views have been sped up for timing purposes — they are not shown in ‘real-time’.

Credits:

Data Visualization by: Ernie Wright (USRA)

Video Produced & Edited by: David Ladd (USRA)

Music provided by Universal Production Music: ‘Visions of Grandeur’ – Frederick Wiedmann”

For more confirmation, we reached out to Ernest Wright, who did the data visualization for this video, on his official NASA email ID (available on the website). He replied, ” The footage from the Facebook post you shared with me is actually a computer simulation I created of the view from Apollo 13 as they passed behind the Moon in 1970. It uses data and images from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. A direct link to the source of that footage is https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4791/ . As I’m sure you know, Chandrayaan 3 has taken real and beautiful footage of the surface of the Moon from orbit. I look forward to learning what the lander discovers about the lunar south pole.”

We also approached this video’s editor and producer David Ladd, who said, “As noted in the credits of that video, I can confirm that I was the video producer and editor of the video, and Ernie Wright was the data visualizer. The beautiful views of the lunar terrain you see are built from data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, and depict what the Apollo 13 astronauts saw on their mission in 1970.”

The latest information on Chandrayaan-3 can be seen on ISRO’s website and ISRO’s social media handles.

Finally, we scanned the profile of the user making the false claim. Facebook user ‘Sonu Golden Bhai’ has more than 200 followers.