SpaceX fake landing: How conspiracy theorists reacted to Falcon 9 losing camera signal

The NASA SpaceX launch titled Demo-2 was the first-ever crewed spaceflight from Cape Kennedy in Florida in nearly a decade; however, conspiracy theorists have claimed that the historic launch was actually fake. The mission has been a milestone for NASA and private aerospace company SpaceX. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday, May 30, to begin its flight to the International Space Station. The rocket dropped the Crew Dragon capsule, guided by space travellers Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, into space just 12 minutes later before detaching and coming back to Earth.

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SpaceX booster landing called fake by conspiracy theorists

The mission was a successful one for NASA and SpaceX as it began a new age of spaceflight for the United States. It was the first time in almost nine years that astronauts were launched into space from the American soil. However, several conspiracy theorists have been calling the Falcon 9 landing fake as there was a signal loss. Here are a few reactions from Twitter users:

NASA was established in the year 1958 and has been the subject of a number of conspiracy theories over the years. One of the most popular and bizarre claims was that agency had actually staged a moon landing in a film studio and has been covering up the deception since then.

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NASA has stated that the Moon mission has its share of conspiracy, which includes people who believe that the agency actually faked the Apollo Moon missions that took place during the 1960s and 1970s. The agency also finds it amusing that people still question the Moon landings that happened years ago. NASA explained that people continue to cite things such as the “American flag waving” in space, despite the plausible explanation that it was, in fact, the test-firing thrusters close to the flag that had caused it to wave. Another claim was that there was actually a spring inside the deployment boom that would continue to shake the flag in an airless vacuum while making it look like it was waving.

NASA has stated that the agency has all the answers to these questions and the various doubts raised by people. However, one of the strongest arguments apart from the LRO’s evidence is a fact that all the Apollo missions were monitored independently by England and Russia, where both the countries had even sent them congratulatory letters after the successful landings. The agency also explained that the Russians would have actually called them out on their bluff, had the landings not happened.

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Image credits: NASA Blogs