Katy Perry’s space trip a hoax, conspiracy theorists claim

Conspiracy theorists are convinced that Katy Perry‘s trip to space was a hoax.

• READ MORE: Katy Perry – ‘143’ review: a pop star struggles to relocate her old sense of fun

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space tourism company Blue Origin sent Perry to space on Monday (April 14), in an all-female crew that included TV host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, scientist Amanda Nguyen, entrepreneur Aisha Bowe and author Lauren Sánchez, who is also Bezos’ fiancée.

Now, the trip is under speculation from conspiracy theorists who claim that footage showing a capsule door being shut and reopened again upon landing is a sign the flight was faked.

After the New Shepard capsule returned to Earth from an 11-minute space flight, the controversial footage shows the capsule door being opened from within before quickly being closed again to allow Blue Origin founder Bezos to then re-open it.

Some social media users have said this is proof of a hoax, with one writing that it is the “Height of Fakeism.” However, a more likely explanation is that this allowed Bezos to take advantage of a photo opportunity.

Height of Fakeism

Moment Jeff Bezos & Blue origin got caught red handed

pic.twitter.com/qknILXkzm3

— Technosmith (@itechnosmith) April 16, 2025

Since the Apollo 1 disaster, in which a capsule burst into flames on the launch pad, it has been standard practice for capsules to be openable from both sides. This is in line with NASA’s safety requirement, which specifically states: “Doors shall be operable by a single crew member in no more than 60 seconds, from both sides of the hatch”, per Daily Mail.

Other conspiracy theorists also suggested that it was peculiar for the capsule not to have any burn marks from ‘re-entry’, with one X user writing, “This thing never left the atmosphere. It doesn’t have a spec of dust on it let alone the burn marks it would get from exiting and re-entering the atmosphere.”

As for the blue origin Hollywood stunt.

This thing never left the atmosphere. It doesn’t have a spec of dust on it let alone the burn marks it would get from exiting and re-entering the atmosphere. pic.twitter.com/ZQR29Krodq

— Calvin (@RealCalvin1) April 17, 2025

This could be explained by the fact that the New Shepard capsule barely made it into space, hitting a maximum altitude of 66.5 miles (107 km), which put the crew just over the Karman Line – the official boundary of space.

Since it barely left the atmosphere, the capsule’s return from Earth didn’t create the heat of a typical re-entry burn that would leave said “burn marks” on the exterior when returning from orbit.

Elsewhere, images emerged on social media of a synthetic-looking hand through the New Shepard capsule window, leading some sceptics to believe the actual flight only contained dummies.

Something is definitely wrong with the Blue Origin “Space Flight”…

Social media users are asking, where are the re-entry burn marks? And why does that look like a fake hand?

lol this world is so crazy pic.twitter.com/YoxHSyYwSG

— Whiplash347 (@Whiplash437) April 16, 2025

However, other commenters have pointed out that this photo is not of the Blue Origin NS-31 launch, but rather of a test flight of New Shepard Crew Capsule 2.0, which took place in December 2017.

The flight included one mannequin, as opposed to the six members of this week’s crew, which had been jokingly nicknamed Mannequin Skywalker. The hand can be seen in the now-viral image.

The lettering on the New Shepard capsule from the 2017 flight is blue, while the lettering on the NS-31 crew capsule is black.

If you watch the video of ‘takeoff’, you’ll see the writing on the capsule where it says “BLUE ORIGIN”, it is written in BLACK … But in the photo of the ‘landing’ site, the same capsule has the writing in BLUE. pic.twitter.com/rFYN1iErP3

— Craig Scott (@tourschedule) April 16, 2025

During their voyage, Perry sang Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ and revealed the setlist for her upcoming ‘Lifetimes’ tour. She was later seen holding a daisy to the sky and kissing the ground upon returning from space.

The trip has sparked memes and controversy, and she has also garnered criticism from other celebrities for taking the space flight, with actress Olivia Munn branding Perry “gluttonous”, Emily Ratajkowski saying she was similarly “disgusted” by the space flight and Lily Allen calling the mission “out of touch”, saying there was “no fucking reason” for it.

The fast food chain Wendy’s also criticised the project, jokingly asking if they could “send Katy Perry back to space”. The quip appeared to be subtly endorsed by singer Kesha in a social media post.

Gayle King has since responded to the controversy and defended the flight, saying: “Have you been? Have you been? If you’ve been and you still feel that way after you come back, please let’s have a conversation. Number three, please don’t call it ‘a ride’, that is not a friggin’ ride. Whenever a man goes up, you have never said to an astronaut ‘boy what a ride’.”

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