SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO, is known for his many opinions. which he shares on X (formerly known as Twitter), as well as his interest in space exploration.
Thus, it came as little surprise when the 52-year-old commented after India scripted history when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) became the first to manage a landing near the Moon's south pole with the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
When ISRO posted images from the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera, which were taken during the Moon's descent, Musk congratulated India and added the nation's flag to his post.
A couple of hours later Musk replied to Google top boss Sundar Pichai's post which lauded the achievement. Pichai, sharing ISRO's post on the successful soft landing said "What an incredible moment! Congratulations to @isro for the successful landing of #Chandrayaan3 on the moon this morning. Today India became the first country to successfully achieve a soft landing on the southern polar region of the moon".
To this, Musk replied "Super cool!"
Even before the Moon landing, on August 21, Musk took cognizance of the fact that ISRO was pulling off the mission on a relatively low budget. Reacting to a post comparing Chandrayaan-3's $75 million budget with director Christopher Nolan's $165 million movie Interstellar, Musk noted "Good for India", again signing off by adding the Indian flag.
Several world leaders and noted celebrities have already congratulated India for this feat.
After the Chandryaan-3 landing the Pragyan rover has now walked on the Moon and in the next 14 days the data collected will help scientists uncover previously unknown details about the celestial body. While the mission continues, the rover will communicate with Vikram, the lander, as it conducts scientific experiments with its payloads.