Addressing more claims that Blue Origin was faked – YouTube

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.’

‘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.