Astronauts

Does former President Richard Nixon's call without a string of cellphone towers prove that NASA never put astronauts on the moon? No, that's not true: A NASA spokesman explained to Lead Stories that the agency used massive radio antennas and ground tracking stations to connect Nixon with the astronauts. The nonexistence of cellphones in 1969, therefore, does not prove that…

Does a composite image showing the Space Shuttle Challenger commander Francis Richard Scobee and the CEO of Cows and Trees, Richard Scobee, prove that the 1986 space shuttle disaster never happened and the astronauts did not die? No, that's not true: The catastrophe was broadcast live, and its details were thoroughly investigated and reported to the president of the United…

Is it impossible to find a "real photo" of Earth taken from space that is not computer generated? No, that's not true: Seventy-six years ago, on October 24, 1946, the first photo of Earth was taken from a V-2 rocket 65 miles above the New Mexico desert. The rocket fell back to Earth as planned, crashing in the desert, and…

Do astronauts only train in swimming pools, and not vacuum chambers, because space is not a vacuum and "Outer Space is a hoax"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson at NASA told Lead Stories that its astronauts have "limited training" in vacuum chambers, which NASA has used for decades to test materials that go into space. Astronauts also train in…

Are satellites a myth because there is no way they could survive high temperatures in space? No, that's not true: A NASA spokesperson called this claim about satellites "misleading." According to NASA, artificial satellites are built to survive high temperatures in space, but they orbit in a layer of the atmosphere, the thermosphere, where sufficient gas molecules do not exist…

Does a viral video describing a father's "deathbed confession" prove the U.S. government faked the 1969 moon landing? No, that's not true: There is a significant amount of evidence that NASA landed on the moon and experts Lead Stories spoke with refuted claims suggesting otherwise. In the video, a man who identifies himself as Gene Gilmore (given name Eugene Reuben…

Did the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger survive the 1986 explosion? No, that's not true: The seven astronauts who were onboard the Challenger died on January 28, 1986. Four of the individuals whom one video narrator presents as survivors of the explosion are individuals without established family or professional ties to the crew. In two cases, the brothers of…

Does consumption of irradiated foods cause cancer and other diseases? No, that's not true: Food irradiation is a well-studied, FDA-approved process that kills pathogens associated with foodborne infections; thus, also preserving food for longer. There is no evidence that it may cause cancer. The claim appeared in a TikTok video on September 6, 2022. The caption began: @Bonnie #knowledgeableone333 Food…

Does a viral video circulated in July 2022 show NASA generating rain clouds and producing its own weather? No, that's not true. A video authentically shows a space shuttle rocket booster test, not cloud creation. The rocket booster in question uses hydrogen and oxygen and the "clouds" shown are steam from the rocket's cooling system. A video shared on Facebook…

Did NASA stop investigating the deepest layers of the world's oceans 34 years ago? No, that's not true: NASA's main exploration ventures are in space, but, according to the agency's website, it still explores the ocean, too. A claim asserting that NASA has stopped its oceanographic work appeared in an Instagram video on August 30, 2022. The video appears to…