Viral NASA video sparks online claims Artemis II mission is staged: ‘Fake as hell’

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A newly released NASA video featuring astronauts giving a live interview from the capsule has sparked conspiracy theories that the space agency’s Artemis II mission might be fabricated and not a real space mission.

People online claim that Artemis II is staged in front of a green screen. NASA launched an aeronautical mission intended to orbit the moon.

‘Staged circus':  X user

The video of the mission crew giving a live interview to CNN shows a plush toy named Rise floating in the capsule, a sign of zero gravity. Conspiracy theorists claimed the video was not real but was filmed in front of a green screen, citing irregularities in the footage.

A cellphone video of the interview allegedly shows visual distortions and flickering text, including the letters “TAN” and “OW” across the toy’s body and head.

Citing the clip as proof, netizens claimed that entire mission was fake and staged.

“Green screen studio glitching on the Artemis moon mission …. It’s all fake!?” one X user wrote.

“Pure green screen bulls–t. Same exact fabric they use on movie sets. Artemis? Fake as hell. They never went up there. Whole thing’s a staged circus and we’re the idiots paying for it. Truth’s buried under layers of CGI and lies. Wake up, man,” a second X user added.

Expressing anger over the waste of taxpayers’ money, one user wrote, “Over 50 million dollars a day to give us green screen BS.”

Another user asked if NASA was caught using green screen again?

The fifth one wrote, "The latest livestream with the Artemis II astronauts clearly shows that it's all a green screen setup."

What could be the reason behind glitch?

An explanation of the glitch states that the clip was recorded from a TV display with chromakey overlay processing active, which may have caused the glitch in the viral clip.

Chromakey, also known as the green-screen or blue-screen effect, is commonly used by broadcasters to insert captions, graphics, and lower-third text into live footage.

There may be a mismatch between live video and graphics because logo text is digitally layered onto the video in real time. This process often causes fragments of the on-screen text to briefly overlap with bright or moving objects, such as the plush toy in the video, making it appear as if the letters are appearing on the object.

and CNN show no screen distortion or flickering of letters, as in the viral clip and the toy floats normally.

The original videos from NASA and CNN show no screen distortion or flickering letters, as seen in the viral clip, and the toy floats normally.

Artemis II mission intends to orbit moon

Artemis II’s crew, including NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen, has begun its final approach to the surface of the moon.

The crew is set to travel 252,757 miles from Earth during their flyby of the moon, more than 4,000 miles beyond the record set by the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.