India’s history-making landing on the Moon cost less than what it cost to film Interstellar.
In fact, it cost the Indian space agency less than half what it cost to make the blockbuster movie.
READ MORE! First photos taken from Moon’s South Pole by India’s historic rover have been revealed
The Chandrayaan-3 mission cost about 6.15 billion rupees, which converts to around USD $75 million.
To put that in perspective, Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey, cost $165 million to create.
It also cost less to send the Chandrayaan-3 into space than the $100 million movie, Gravity, and the $108 million movie, The Martian.
India’s shoestring budget also rivals the lowest-cost missions made by the USA’s NASA.
The Indian space agency made headlines this week when it became the first to land on the Moon’s south pole and the fourth country to successfully land on the moon ever.
In fact, Russia recently attempted to reach the Moon’s South Pole but the plan went terribly wrong when the Russian craft crashed right before landing.
India succeeded where Russia failed and ultimately reached the South Pole on August 23, 2023.
The Moon landing was broadcast on national television in India, and the video was also shared on YouTube by India’s space agency ISRO.
Moon’s South Pole Pictures shared by ISRO on Twitter / X.
After its Moon landing, the Chandrayaan-3 beamed freshly taken photographs down to Earth.
The images show a side of the Moon never seen before, and they’re quite something.
The South Pole pictures reveal a version of the moon that, on the surface at least, looks rather familiar.
The terrain looks ‘crusty’ and hard, and it is characterized by the iconic Gruyère cheese-like cracks the Moon is famous for.
However, things are different when it comes to what lies underneath the surface.
Scientists believe that the permanently shadowed polar craters in the South Pole may contain frozen ice trapped in the rocks.
