Space Mission

Did Elon Musk say two Boeing Starliner astronauts died in space, as a social media post implies? No, that's not true: Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were shown conducting a spacewalk nearly a month after the post -- and there's no record of Musk ever having made the statements attributed to him in the social media post. On February…

Was the military helicopter involved in the plane crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29, 2025, "flying dark," as it was supposed to be broadcasting with an ADS-B transponder signal? No, that's not true: While the Black Hawk helicopter was not using ADS-B, it was still operating properly within the airspace, according to flight data and to…

Did Elon Musk promise a "major shake-up" at MSNBC, vowing to fire host Joy Reid, as a social media post said? No, that's not true: This first appeared in an article on a website with a satire disclaimer that's known for publishing fabricated content. The post's caption also identifies its content as "RATED SATIRE." The claim appeared in a post…

Did a NASA livestream authentically capture a "UFO" or "mysterious craft" before the stream was "abruptly cut," suggesting an intentional disruption to the video? No, that's not true: NASA told Lead Stories that the footage showed the Dragon spacecraft supporting a NASA and SpaceX commercial resupply service on December 16, 2024. The "momentary loss of video is routine, and due…

Does the swinging action of stuffed toys hanging from the ceiling of the Soyuz crew capsule prove that the spacecraft is not really producing the expected G forces during a launch into orbit, suggesting fakery? No, that's not true: A spacecraft will experience varying G forces and vibrations during launch. A social media post's short video clip was taken from…

Did Elon Musk say that he bought Boeing? No, that's not true: Musk did not announce the purchase on X, and Boeing published no such information as of this writing. No information about this supposed post has been reported on the website of any news outlets indexed by Google News. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on…

Are the drones reportedly seen over New Jersey and New York being used to track nuclear material in the country? No, that's not true: The National Nuclear Security Administration's emergency team told Lead Stories it doesn't use drones to detect nuclear or radiological materials. In a joint statement on December 16, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Federal Aviation…

Do videos in a social media post show drones firing weapons in New Jersey in December 2024? No, that's not true: A military spokesperson at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst told Lead Stories that both videos show a "U.S. Marine helicopter conducting nighttime aerial gunnery training." The spokesperson added, "This is normal training conducted monthly." The claim appeared in a post that…

Was a post on Substack the real letter of explanation by Luigi Mangione, the man who has been arrested in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson? No, that's not true: A Substack spokesperson told Lead Stories the post was removed for violating the website's guidelines, "which prohibit impersonation." The taken-down post was a long story about a mother's illness…

Did Adm. Rob Bauer, who heads NATO's Military Committee, say the group would launch pre-emptive strikes on Russia in the event of war? No, that's not true: In his remarks at a conference in Brussels, Bauer never mentioned the possibility of NATO attacking Russia pre-emptively. In fact, he stressed Russia would have to hit NATO targets first before the Alliance…