Elon Musk responds to Sundar Pichai’s post on Chandrayaan-3

Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk had a brief exchange on X

Elon Musk has been full of appreciation for India’s feat of becoming the first country to achieve a soft landing on the far side of the moon. He first praised India for executing the moon mission at a cost of approximately $75 million, which is less than the budget of some big-ticket Hollywood movies, and then congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after the successful completion of the mission. Now, Musk has responded to a post from fellow Silicon Valley CEO Sundar Pichai on Chandrayaan-3.

On August 23, India joined an elite club of only three other countries that have a rover on the lunar surface. With this, it also became the only country to have achieved a soft landing near the moon’s south pole – a largely unchartered region. The Indian-origin CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, lauded this feat in a post shared on X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter.

“What an incredible moment! Congratulations to ISRO for the successful landing of #Chandrayaan3 on the moon this morning,” tweeted Pichai. “Today India became the first country to successfully achieve a soft landing on the southern polar region of the moon,” he added.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, responded to Pichai’s post with two words: “Super cool.”

Super cool!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2023

Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander with Pragyan rover in its belly touched down on the moon shortly after 6 pm on August 23. The 26-kg rover has since begun its exploration of the lunar surface.