One doesn’t have to look too far or wide on the internet these days to find conspiracy theorists and their theories. They’ve always existed, of course, but they enjoyed a huge boost in their capabilities with the advent of global super-interconnection. Put simply, anyone doubting a huge moment in history, or of the opinion that some sort of cover-up has taken place, can now spread their views and evidence (or lack of, as the case may be) across the world at a few clicks of a button.
It’s hardly a surprise, then, that the naysayers have been out in force during the current NASA Artemis II mission. Part of the mission’s significance is that it has surpassed the record for human spaceflight’s farthest distance from Earth, previously set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen launched on Wednesday (1 April) aboard a 322-foot rocket, beginning their journey beyond Earth’s orbit. After spending their first 25 hours circling the planet, during which they described the views to mission control as “phenomenal,” the crew set course for the Moon.
The plan with Artemis II was not to land on the Moon’s surface, but rather conduct a flyby, and it is viewed as a critical step toward future Moon missions. The crew gave a live interview to CNN to talk about their mission to fly past the dark side of the Moon, and quickly found themselves targeted by conspiracy theorists who believe that the whole journey is being recorded in a film studio somewhere with the help of high-tech camera equipment and a green screen. During the interview, a plush toy dubbed ‘Rise’ floated around the capsule’s interior to demonstrate zero gravity, though some viewers claimed to see the letters ‘OW’ and ‘TAN’ appear behind it, as if a green screen was glitching. None of the astronauts appeared to notice, but social media users reacted strongly, prompting explanations that the effect was likely caused by Chroma Key technology used in broadcasting, where overlays such as on-screen text may refresh at different times and create a temporary visual glitch.