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Since Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez blasted to the edge of space on a Blue Origin rocket, the internet has been flooded with wild rumours.
While the 11-minute space trip has attracted its share of fair criticism, some internet-dwelling conspiracy theorists don’t believe the flight took place at all.
Now, the latest piece of ‘evidence’ to set social media ablaze is the bizarre claim that the door of the New Shepard capsule was fake.
A viral TikTok video with over 11,000 likes seems to show the capsule door changing colour and losing bolts during the mission.
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In a photo taken before the launch, the capsule’s door is lined by a large gold frame with a bolt placed above each of the top corners.
However, in an image taken after landing the heavy frame and bolts both appear to have vanished.
On social media, commenters have rushed to the comments to celebrate the proof the mission had been ‘faked on purpose’.
However, as with so much misinformation, these claims are very easily debunked upon closer examination.
Online conspiracy theorists have found yet another wild reason to believe Katy Perry’s Blue Origin mission was faked. They now claim the door to the capsule was fake
A viral post on TikTok claims that a pair of bolts and a gold frame seen on the capsule before ht launch disappeared by the time New Shepard landed 11 minutes later
On TikTok, commenters rushed to share their speculation that this was a different door. Some claimed this was evidence that the capsule had been somehow swapped
The video’s poster, a user named bigbadjohn954, writes in the caption: ‘After landing! Where screws or holes?’
And, in the comments, many people agreed that the door does indeed look different.
One sceptical commenter wrote: ‘A high school group building a homecoming float could have been more believable with their creation. Damn.’
Another wrote: ‘Even the entire door looks different, no? Where’s the entire sandy coloured but gone either the handles? The door opened in so sure that would still be visible from outside.’
‘I keep saying it’s not the same capsule,’ said another.
And one commenter chimed in: ‘The hatches are completely different.’
For many people who had already been suspicious about the Jeff Bezos-funded launch, this was all the evidence needed.
‘It was faked on purpose! It m [sic] trying to figure out why,’ one conspiracy theorist proclaimed.
‘Another reason NASA funding should be eliminated,’ another added.
Kerianne Flynn, Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Aisha Bowe, Gayle King and Amanda Nguyen (left to right) travelled to the edge of space aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard capsule. But conspiracy theorists think the entire thing was an elaborate hoax
One commenter proclaimed that the mission was ‘faked on purpose’, but added that they weren’t yet sure why
One commenter joked that the screws must have ‘burned off’ on re-entry
A conspiracy theorist wildly claimed that this was ‘another reason NASA funding should be eliminated’
This comes after conspiracy theorists noticed that the door to the New Shepard capsule was accidentally opened from within before Jeff Bezos could ceremonially open it for the cameras
Meanwhile, one conspiratorially minded commenter joked: ‘Very simple explanation, screws burned off on re-entry. If you don’t believe me ask Gayle she is an astronaut ya know.’
However, as with so much misinformation, these claims are very easily debunked upon closer examination.
As sharp-eyed commenters noted, the gold frame which supposedly vanished is marked with a very clear sign saying: ‘REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT’.
As the livestream of the launch showed, this panel was actually removed before the hatch was even shut.
One commenter noted: ‘Gold color border around door is a removable external access frame used only for passenger loading.’
Likewise, conspiracy theorists claim that the screw or bolt holes above the door have ‘vanished’ by the time the capsule lands.
While they believe this shows the capsule was somehow swapped for a different capsule, there is a much easier explanation.
The screws are still present and can clearly be seen at various points during Blue Origin’s recording of the landing.
Closer inspection of the ‘disappearing’ panel shows that it is marked with a sign reading: ‘REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT’
Only minutes later in the Blue Origin livestream, you can see that the panel has been removed now that all the passengers are onboard
One sharp-eyed commenter noted that the gold seal around the door was removed before the flight and that the screw holes are visible
The screw holes have not disappeared, they are just difficult to see because of the lighting in this particular screenshot
Since the still image in the video is extremely blurry these screw holes are just very difficult to make out.
You can tell the image is out of focus by looking at the text above the door which is barely visible despite using bold lettering.
This fact was not missed by social media users prepared to do some fact-checking, who helpfully provided the details for other commenters.
One commenter wrote: ‘I rewatched the webcast of the launch and the bolts are still there. Timestamp 1:49:14 is a nice close up of them.’
Another added: ‘On the after photo you can’t see the holes. That’s probably due to the lighting in this photo. If you watch the YouTube replays those holes are clearly visible.’
However, that has not prevented online conspiracy theorists from becoming convinced that Katy Perry and the Blue Origin crew are all part of an elaborate hoax.
This comes after over-excited conspiracy theorists spread false claims about a supposedly ‘fake’ hand they had spotted in the window of the New Shepard capsule.
On X, one commenter claimed: ‘Something is definitely wrong with the Blue Origin “Space Flight” that Katy Perry was on.’
Although they are difficult to see from the blurry livestream footage, you can make out the screw holes in this image taken after landing
On X, commenters leapt on this image of a hand to suggest that the Blue Origin mission involved some fakery
While conspiracy theorists are right that this was a fake hand, the original image does not come from Monday’s launch. This was taken during a 2017 test launch in which a mannequin was launched into space on a New Shepard capsule
‘That sure looks like a mannequin, shiny hand,’ added another.
While these commenters were correct that this was a mannequin’s hand, they had simply mistaken a seven-year-old photograph for images of Monday’s launch.
Instead, this is from the test flight of New Shepard Crew Capsule 2.0 which took place on December 12, 2017.
The flight included a mannequin which had been jokingly nicknamed Mannequin Skywalker, the hand of which can be seen in the viral image.