The actor is doing promotions for ‘Ad Astra’, and was talking to American astronaut Nick Hague, who is currently on the ISS

Hollywood megastar Brad Pitt is currently doing promotions for his upcoming space epic film Ad Astra, and got on a call with American astronaut Nick Hague, when the conversation turned to India’s Vikram Lander and Chandrayaan-2!

Calling the International Space Station (ISS), Pitt asked Hague about life aboard the ISS, and then enquired if the latter had been able to watch the landing of Vikram Lander, that was part of Chandrayaan-2.

Pitt asked, “I got to go to JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) last week and it was on the day when India was landing on the moon and the United States were assisting them in that effort. Could you see that from where you are?”

Hague, who is on the ISS with two Americans, two Russians and an Italian, answered, “No, unfortunately, I along with the rest of the crew had to follow along with the news reports.”

Pitt and Hague went on to converse a bit more about the latter’s experience, and the call was broadcast on NASA TV.

“The calluses on my feet have basically gone away because I don’t walk on the bottoms of my feet,” said Hague to Pitt, who replied, “That’s incredible to see.” The 20-minute video call was showcased on split-screen from NASA’s Washington headquarters.

LIVE NOW: There's an incoming call … from space! @AstroHague is talking to #AdAstra actor Brad Pitt about what it’s like to live and work aboard the @Space_Station. Watch: https://t.co/yQzjEx1tr8 — NASA (@NASA) September 16, 2019

Chandrayaan-2 is the second lunar mission developed by the ISRO after Chandrayaan-1.

Chandrayaan 2 took off from Sriharikota on July 22 to safe land the ‘Vikram’, carrying its ‘Pragyan’ rover, in a suitable high plain on the lunar surface, at a latitude of about 70º South. But soon after 1.50 a.m. on September 7, in the final minutes of the lander’s descent on its own, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) team in Bengaluru lost contact with the module.

In the last couple of minutes on the call, Pitt, in a lighter moment, also asked Hague who was more convincing as an astronaut — him or George Clooney who starred in Gravity in 2013. Hauge answered, quipping, “You were. Absolutely!”

After his latest turn as stuntman Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Pitt takes on a different genre in Ad Astra that is billed a sci-fi film and takes Pitt to outer space in search of his lost father. The film made its debut at the Venice Film Festival to a rousing response, and is set for wider release in September.