Facts Matter: Object seen floating in space not UFO
A video showing a NASA astronaut during a spacewalk, working on the International Space Station, has been circulating on social media. The astronaut in the clip is floating while working, and Earth can be seen far below.
A white object also can be seen in the video, between the Space Station and Earth, rotating and floating.
“Real UFO,” reads the caption on the video in a recent Facebook post shared 11,000 times.
The video is real, but it’s not a real UFO, according to USA Today. The object seen in the clip actually is a previously lost piece of the Space Station.
The white object is a shield that was supposed to be installed during a 2017 spacewalk by astronauts Peggy Whitson and Shane Kimbrough, NASA spokesperson Daniel Huot told USA Today.
Although other shields and parts were successfully installed during that walk, that white shield, intended to protect an unused port from space debris, was lost.
A video from the 2017 spacewalk shows the shield after it first was lost.
Musk not building warplane
A social media post claims SpaceX founder Elon Musk is working with the U.S. government to get involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Finally: The U.S. & Elon Musk reveal new hypersonic jet to help Ukraine,” reads the headline on a recent blog post. The post goes on to say this is “something which could play a key role in a confrontation with an aggressive Russia.”
But there is no evidence this is happening, according to PolitiFact. SpaceX has provided internet service to Ukrainians. Musk’s company has donated more than 3,600 terminals that Ukraine has used to battle Russia, but there are no credible reports of a hypersonic jet, PolitiFact said.
A YouTube video makes the same claim without evidence to back it up.
Biden hasn’t filed for 2024
Recent posts claim President Joe Biden is set to run for reelection. “Joe Robinette Biden has just officially filed for Reelection with the Federal Election Committee today — running again with Kamala Harris as his Vice President,” a recent Instagram user claimed. A tweet with the same message was shared more than 1,900 times.
Biden has said he plans to run again in 2024, but he has not officially kicked off his campaign, according to The Associated Press. The claim grew from a document filing with the Federal Election Commission.
The Aug. 30 FEC filing is an updated administrative document submitted by Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign committee. The document amended the list of the committee’s officials.
“This is just updating the form to change the treasurer name because the former treasurer is taking a government job,” an official from the Democratic National Committee told the AP.
Water will not be fuel for cars
Old news video showing a late inventor, claiming 22 gallons of water could fuel a dune buggy enough to drive from Los Angeles to New York, has recently resurfaced on Instagram.
The post shows a clip of inventor Stanley Meyer, who died in 1998, explaining how his “water fuel cell” worked by breaking down the hydrogen and oxygen in water so the hydrogen could be used to fuel a car engine.
But this would never work, according to PolitiFact, citing science writer Philip Ball’s 2007 comments in the London-based scientific journal Nature. “Water is not a fuel. It never has been one, and it never will be one,” longtime science writer Ball wrote.
“Water does not burn. Water is already burnt — it is spent fuel. It is exhaust.”
This claim has shown up on social media in various forms over the past decade and has been debunked each time, PolitiFact said.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.
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