Several prominent American women headed briefly into space on Monday aboard a Blue Origin shuttle — closely watched (and criticised) by millions. Conspiracy theorists however insist that the Jeff Bezos-led company had ‘faked’ its quick ride into zero gravity using “special effects”. Debate about the authenticity of the journey began soon after the landing as eagle eyed netizens noticed the crew briefly opening the hatch door from the inside immediately upon landing.
“Am I the only one who saw this? The ground crew arrives and one of the astronauts opens the hatch. The ground crew instantly shuts it. Ten minutes later Bezos walks up to the hatch with a ‘Blue Origin wrench’ and pretends to open the hatch. The phoniest thing I’ve seen in a while,” wrote one user.
Another claimed that the capsule hatch for the Blue Origin New Shepard was designed to be opened from the outside by a recovery team as a “safety measure’. The X user reiterated that space capsules were typically not designed “to open from the inside immediately after landing due to safety protocols”.
“They faked the door opening. Someone inside opened the door, and was told to close it. 3 minutes later they “cracked” the door open. You can’t make this stuff up, you really can’t,” wrote a third.
Jeff Bezos had launched his fiancee Lauren Sanchez into space on Monday afternoon with an all-female celebrity crew that included Katy Perry and Gayle King. The star-studded trip lasted all of eleven minutes as the team blasted off from West Texas for a few precious minutes of weightlessness. Media reports later confirmed that Bezos had opened the capsule hatch ‘minutes after touchdown’ before embracing Sanchez who was the first one out.