Fact Check: 2021 video of rocket from Florida shared as Chandrayaan-3 launch

Hyderabad: Several social media users have shared aerial footage of rockets claiming they show the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launching its third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, on July 14 from Sriharikota.

The caption of one such post reads, ‘Beautiful view of Chandrayaan 3.’ While it is true that the Chandrayaan-3 launch was captured by an Indigo flight passenger, does this particular viral video show the same? Let’s find out.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false as it’s an old video from Florida, US.

We performed a reverse image search using the keyframes from the viral video and found the same video uploaded on a YouTube channel “VideoFromSpace” dated May 22 2021.

The YouTube video was uploaded titled “Airline passenger sees Atlas V rocket launch during flight (Raw Video).” The description reads, “Photographer Andy Lin captured video of an Atlas V rocket launching from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida during a flight from New York to Cancun on May 17, 2021. See footage of the launch from the ground and rocket.”

There is also a link to a complete report on the Atlas V rocket launch at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Further investigation leads to an article on the website Born in Space containing screenshots from the viral video reporting the same Florida rocket launch uploaded in 2021. According to the article “This is a clip from an airplane passenger of an Atlas V rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on May 18th 2021, carrying a satellite for use by the U.S. Space Force. The liftoff occurred at 1:37 PM, and all the passengers on the left side of this flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Cancun got a nice view of it. (sic)”

Hence, the viral video doesn’t show the launch of Chandrayaan-3 from space.