All-Female Space Mission Slammed as “Fake,” “Hypocritical,” and “CGI Trash”

Blue Origin’s women in space mission was designed to be a celebration of progress: a short but symbolic suborbital journey featuring the first all-female crew aboard a New Shepard capsule. Among them were singer Katy Perry, climate scientist Dr. Lila Fernandez, astronaut trainer Samantha Wu, and two other high-profile women in science, tech, and entertainment. Billed as a tribute to female achievement and “Mother Earth,” the 11-minute journey to the edge of space captured global attention.

But while millions tuned in to watch the historic liftoff, a wave of backlash has since engulfed the mission, raising complex questions about ecology, equity, and the intersection of activism, capitalism, and space tourism. There are also many speculations about whether the women in the space mission were faked.

Was Blue Origin’s All-Female Mission a Fake?

Since Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez flew to the edge of space on Blue Origin’s all-female mission, conspiracy theories have exploded online. One of the latest viral claims is that the entire flight was staged.

Social media users are now pointing to “proof” that the capsule’s door changed between takeoff and landing, with missing bolts and a vanished gold frame fueling the idea that the rocket never actually left Earth. As sharp-eyed commenters noted, the gold frame which supposedly vanished is marked with a very clear sign saying: ‘REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT’.

As the livestream of the launch showed, this panel was actually removed before the hatch was even shut. 

While experts have debunked these rumours, explaining that screws burned off on re-entry, the internet isn’t convinced – and the theory that Blue Origin’s all-female mission was a fake continues to gain traction.

On the video that went viral, people also noticed the strange moment when the capsule’s door opens and then the woman waves the crew ‘no-no’. Following this, Jeff Bezos uses a tool to open the door.

Some even believe a different capsule was swapped in during the 11-minute trip.

Emily Ratajkowski Slams Mission as “End-Time S**t”

Model and activist Emily Ratajkowski didn’t mince words in a viral video posted to social media within hours of the launch.

“That space mission this morning, that’s end-time s**t,” Ratajkowski ranted. “It’s beyond parody.” Her criticism centred on the mission’s perceived hypocrisy – an expensive and emissions-heavy joyride underwritten by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, wrapped in a message of environmentalism and empowerment.

“Saying that you care about Mother Earth, and going up in a spaceship paid for by a company that’s single-handedly destroying the planet?” she asked, calling the stunt “disgusting.”

She followed up the next day with a more nuanced but equally scathing critique.

“Seeing women and people of colour in spaces like science and politics… looks like progress,” she said. “But the truth is, having a man who became part of the 1% through exploitation deciding to take his fiancée and a few other famous women to space for tourism is not progress. It’s optics.”

Previously, Orbital Today reported that actress Olivia Munn criticised Blue Origin’s all-female space mission.

Conspiracy Theorists Call “CGI!”

Alongside the ideological pushback came the expected but still baffling deluge of space hoax theories. Posts on X (formerly Twitter) quickly flooded timelines claiming the all-female space mission was “filmed in a studio” and featured “the worst CGI of all time.”

“Katy Perry fr just sat in a movie studio and fooled all of you with CGI,” wrote one user. Another commented, “There is better CGI in N64 games.”

One of the more surreal claims suggested the NS-31 mission was staged in Hollywood with actress Zooey Deschanel impersonating Perry. This theory, of course, was accompanied by fuzzy, zoomed-in screengrabs and conspiratorial voiceovers – classic playbook from the same fringe groups that called last year’s Polaris Dawn spacewalk “deepfake propaganda.”

Despite a wealth of live-streamed footage, real-time telemetry data, and independent tracking from amateur space enthusiasts, these conspiracy theories continue to find a niche online.

A divided reaction over Blue Origin’s all-female space mission

Public sentiment remains polarised. While critics argue the mission symbolised elitist “space play” under the guise of progress, others see it as a necessary step toward inclusivity in a male-dominated industry.

Dr. Amina Caldwell, a professor of Space Policy at MIT, commented: “You can both question the motives of billionaires and celebrate the symbolic power of an all-female crew. These are not mutually exclusive ideas.”

Indeed, for many young women watching, the image of a multicultural, all-female crew floating in microgravity was powerful. “I teared up,” one viewer wrote on TikTok. “I’ve never seen myself in space before. Now I can.”

Still, the mission’s marketing, emphasising gender and empowerment while backed by Bezos’ empire, has made it a lightning rod in a moment when people are increasingly critical of performative progress.