As India prepares itself for the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon on 23 August, a video is being shared to claim that it shows stunning visuals of the moon that were captured by ISRO's recent Indian lunar exploration mission.
![We found that the viral video dates back to December 2020, years before the launch of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-08%2F7665d54a-7481-49fa-8f51-e9382d06d89d%2Fclaim.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
The video had recorded more than 3,90,000 views on X (formerly Twitter) at the time of writing this report. You can view other archives of similar posts here, here, and here.
Are these claims true?: Neither the video is recent nor is it related to Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3. It dates back to December 2020 and shows an animated close-up of the moon in motion.
How did we find out?: We extracted several keyframes from the viral video using Google Chrome extension InVID WeVerify and performed a reverse image search on them.
We came across an image uploaded on IStock Photo which looked similar to the viral video.
The image was uploaded on 3 December 2020 and was captioned, "Textured surface of the moon close-up in motion. 3d illustration. Elements of this image furnished by NASA stock photo."
![We found that the viral video dates back to December 2020, years before the launch of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-08%2F040f77d9-61db-4cc7-9d04-b3cc4775914a%2FScreenshot_2023_08_22_113916.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
The image was credited to FlashMovie.
(Source: IStock Photo/Screenshot)
On comparing a keyframe from the viral video and the stock image, we found that the visuals were laterally inverted to each other.
![We found that the viral video dates back to December 2020, years before the launch of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-08%2F7c0321ad-a45b-40aa-a40d-8d2d6ea2144a%2FABHISHEK_WQ___2023_08_22T114648_540.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
A comparison clearly highlights the similarities.
(Source: IStockPhoto/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
We searched further and found the same video uploaded on Shutterstock. The video was credited to 'FlashMovie'.
It was uploaded in November 2020.
![We found that the viral video dates back to December 2020, years before the launch of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-08%2F27748b0b-9985-4059-b730-842b0afb5505%2FScreenshot_2023_08_22_120156.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
You can view the video on the link here.
(Source: Shutterstock/Screenshot)
On searching for 'FlashMovie' on Google, we came across a website by the same name. It is an online store where people can buy illustrations, high-quality video, and templates.
We found the same video uploaded on this website too.
The description of the video mentioned that the video was a "3D animation".
![We found that the viral video dates back to December 2020, years before the launch of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-08%2Fdbf845f1-552f-4e8e-b4ea-b2c6a42ef27d%2FScreenshot_2023_08_22_121146.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
The video was a 3D animation.
(Source: FlashMovie website/Screenshot)
Conclusion: It is clear that the viral video is an old stock video clip which is being shared on the internet with users falsely linking it to Chandrayaan-3.
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