Series of images showing ‘faked’ moon landing were AI-generated
The image is AI-generated and has no connection to the moon landing in 1969
CLAIM
A number of posts on social media included images of what appeared to be a film set where astronauts were apparently staging the moon landing, with a caption alluding to man’s first walk on the moon having been ‘faked’.
BACKGROUND
A series of posts were shared across social media platforms in April featuring a collage of four pictures that appeared to show astronauts and space equipment on a film shoot, along with the caption: “HOW MUCH OF THE MOON LANDING DO YOU THINK WAS FAKED?”
The post first appeared on the X account “DR. Kek”, which has over half a million followers and frequently posts unverified health claims and other material popular among online conspiracy theory communities. The formatting of the caption follows the usual style for this account, with capital letters and distinctive text spacing.
The post was viewed close to 200,000 times, and seemed to spawn clones on Facebook later the same day and the next day, such as this one and this one, which have the same caption.
METHOD
A reverse image search on the image immediately brings up a Reddit thread in the subreddit for people with an interest in Midjourney (r/midjourney). Midjourney is an AI tool that generates images and artwork based on prompts inputted by a user.
The subreddit, which currently has 1.1 million members, is described as “an official subreddit for Midjourney related content”.
The initial post in the thread that features the image, posted in March 2023, is titled “Staging the Moon Landing, 1969”. The uploader, ‘FineWithIX’, posted the image seen in the posts above under the tag ‘Showcase’, which is how people in the group identify that the post relates to a creation they made.
The comments on the post in the subreddit reveal more information. Users joked about how the creation could fuel conspiracy theorists who believe the moon landing was staged, and the uploader wrote that their goal in making conspiracy-related images was actually “mocking the conspiracy theorists”.
They added in another comment: “If someone wants to deceive others by passing this off as real, that’s their ethical issue. To me, this is art I created for entertainment to a group that knows it is AI-generated.”
They also gave more information about how they made the image. “I tried a first one with a ChatGPT-made prompt that was super specific, but not as good. This final one actually was as simple as it could be. All I told it was a film set of the moon landing, with astronauts, cameras, and producers, shot on a 1969 camera. Blown away, as usual!”
This analysis shows that the image was AI-generated and has no connection to Apollo 11, the American spaceflight that landed on the moon in 1969.
RATING
The image is AI-generated and has no connection to the moon landing in 1969.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). DR. Kek. Available at: HOW MUCH OF THE MOON LANDING DO YOU THINK WAS FAKED [Accessed 1 May 2024].
Facebook.com. (2024). HOW MUCH OF THE MOON… – William Fuellner. [online] [Accessed 1 May 2024].
Facebook.com. (2024). HOW MUCH OF… – Dale Coronaliars Harvey. [online] [Accessed 1 May 2024].
Reddit.com. (2023). Reddit – Dive into anything. [online] Available at: Staging the Moon Landing, 1969 [Accessed 1 May 2024].