While some are still foaming at the mouth over the so-called “historic” all-women space flight, others are side-eyeing the footage and asking: Was any of that real?
Or are we just watching the same old space circus, this time with celebrity glitter?
On Monday, April 14, pop star Katy Perry, media personality Lauren Sánchez and four other high-profile women were launched aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket, New Shepard, in what was hyped as a groundbreaking moment for women in space.
Cue the inspirational music. But not everyone's feeling moved - in fact, many are questioning whether it even happened the way they said it did.
Today, Katy Perry became the first human since Neal Armstrong and Buzz Peterson to set foot on another planet
What an amazing moment for America, which proved once again why it is the oldest and greatest country on earth pic.twitter.com/TUjmln68Rp
The all-women crew was praised across the mainstream media, with emotional footage showing attendees like Oprah Winfrey and other celebs wiping tears and kissing the ground after the launch. Kissing. The. Ground.
What in the name of overacting is going on there?
But while mainstream outlets rushed to frame the moment as a feminist leap for humankind, internet sleuths and armchair theorists were having none of it. Many believe this wasn’t a leap at all but rather a carefully choreographed Hollywood show with zero gravity and even less truth.
Let’s be clear: the rocket reportedly reached 66.5 miles (that’s 107 km) above Earth, crossing the Kármán Line, which is internationally recognised as the edge of space. The whole thing lasted just 11 minutes. But that’s if you believe any of it happened beyond a film set.
Social media lit up with sceptics calling the launch "another space hoax", comparing it to the decades-long theory that the 1969 moon landing was filmed in a studio.
That’s not just internet talk either, the moon landing conspiracy theory has lingered since the footage first aired, and polls over the years have shown that a small but persistent percentage of people still believe the US faked it during the Cold War to one-up the Soviet Union.
It just keeps getting more ridiculous
— Vision4theBlind (@Vision4theBlind) April 15, 2025
Gayle King claiming that Katy Perry sang "What a Wonderful World" while floating in space
This has to be some type of litmus test just to see how brainwashed people truly are. pic.twitter.com/LF6sERVwmj
So when Blue Origin’s launch was beamed across platforms, critics were already side-eyeing the lighting, the camera angles, and the so-called "weightless moments". Some said the CGI looked sloppy, others pointed out how neatly timed the tears were once the cameras rolled.
One user on X, formerly Twitter, summed it up: “The worst CGI any fake space agency has ever produced.”
While another wrote: "11 minutes in ‘space’ - just enough time for a ritual number and a press release. Welcome to the entertainment-industrial complex."
Even YouTube gossip vlogger SLOAN chimed in, saying: “I don’t understand the suits, I don’t understand the trip, I don’t understand the casting for this space expedition, and I sure as hell don’t understand what Katy Perry is talking about.”
The theories didn’t stop at green screens and body doubles either. Some users, deep in their TikTok rabbit holes, claimed the whole thing was “satanic theatre” led by Bezos and Perry, though no evidence supports this.
Still, when you’ve got billionaires, pop stars and media giants involved, suspicion isn’t that hard to sell.
One Instagram comment read: “Katy Perry is so ridiculous on trying to cover that up. Not understanding that some of us, this past arrow space engineering, can tell the whole thing was fake."
Psychologists have even weighed in, saying this kind of high-profile, emotionally packaged event is the perfect storm for conspiracy thinking. There’s glitz, drama, powerful players, and just enough mystery to spark the imagination.
So what was the real mission? A genuine leap for women in STEM? Or just another distraction while something bigger brews behind the curtain? We may never know.