On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket carried an all-female crew—Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, and Kerianne Flynn—into suborbital space, marking the first all-female spaceflight since Valentina Tereshkova's 1963 mission. Billed as a celebration of female empowerment and STEM inspiration, the 11-minute trip was met with both fanfare and fierce criticism. Among the detractors, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and various internet voices claimed the flight was "fake," fuelling a narrative that the mission was staged. Meanwhile, the event's over-the-top presentation—complete with designer spacesuits and celebrity antics—has led some to view it as a self-parody, a satirical commentary on capitalism, feminism, and media spectacle.

Alex Jones, the infamous host of InfoWars, has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories, from calling the Sandy Hook shooting a "hoax" to alleging the 1969 Moon landing was faked. But he also exposed all aspects of the Covid vax scam, and was proved right on at least this. True to form, Jones seized on Blue Origin's all-female spaceflight to push a narrative that the mission was fabricated. He framed the flight as a staged spectacle, orchestrated by globalist elites or corporate interests to distract from larger agendas. His past claims about space-related events, like dismissing NASA's Mars rover landing as a fake funded by "MIT students" and corporate backers, provide a template: he often alleges high-profile missions are propaganda stunts to manipulate public perception, and right he is most of the time, but not all.

Jones' rhetoric relies on scepticism about funding, motives, and visual evidence. For the Blue Origin flight, he questions how a private company could afford such a mission or point to the flight's brevity (11 minutes) as evidence it never reached space, and that the space craft looked like flimsy plastic. His audience, primed to distrust mainstream narratives, would likely amplify these claims, seeing the flight's celebrity cast and polished media rollout as proof of a "manufactured" event.

Beyond Jones, a chorus of internet sceptics on platforms like X has echoed the "fake" narrative, seizing on specific moments to fuel speculation. The most cited "evidence" is a gaffe during the capsule's landing: Jeff Bezos opened the hatch with a specialised tool, but footage showed the door briefly opening from the inside before being shut. Conspiracy theorists claimed this was "definitive proof" the mission was staged, arguing the hatch shouldn't open internally. While NASA standards confirm that spacecraft hatches must be operable from both sides by a single crewmember without tools, it is odd that the door was briefly opened, then closed, indicating a staged event.

Other sceptics pointed to the flight's short duration, with rapper Azealia Banks tweeting, "I don't think they even went to space that sh*t was fake af. How they back already it's been like 40 mins." Additional theories focused on the lack of "re-entry burn marks" or the flight's polished visuals, with one X user claiming, "It doesn't even look real." These "vibes-based" suspicions reflect a broader distrust of curated media events, amplified by the flight's celebrity glitz.

The conspiracy theories gained traction due to the mission's "perfect storm" of factors: a billionaire-backed spectacle, a celebrity-heavy crew, and a tightly choreographed presentation that felt more like a marketing stunt than a scientific endeavour.

The Blue Origin flight's absurdity—designer spacesuits by Oscar de la Renta, Kim Kardashian shapewear debates, and Katy Perry singing What a Wonderful World in zero gravity—has led some to argue it was a satirical commentary, intentionally or not. The mission's framing as a feminist milestone drew sharp criticism from celebrities like Amy Schumer, Olivia Wilde, and Olivia Munn, who called it "gluttonous" and "disgusting" for prioritising spectacle over substance. The New York Times described it as turning space into "the world's most extravagant influencer platform," while The Spectator labelled it "the most self-indulgent and pointless trip into space. Ever." These critiques suggest the flight mocked itself, exposing the hollowness of performative empowerment.

From one angle, the mission satirises modern feminism, presenting a billionaire-funded joyride as progress while ignoring systemic barriers in aerospace (women remain severely underrepresented). Lauren Sánchez's claim that the flight would inspire girls in STEM, clashed with its reality as a recreational stunt for "storytellers" with no technical roles. The skin-tight spacesuits and beauty prep (blow-dries, fake lashes) reinforced stereotypes, prompting ABC Australia to question why women in space needed to "look hot" rather than "capable." This could be read as a parody of how capitalism co-opts feminism for branding.

Even Blue Origin and Bezos might be in on the joke, using the flight to troll critics while boosting their brand. The company's pivot from serious space exploration to celebrity tourism mirrors a broader cultural shift toward spectacle over substance, satirising the privatisation of space itself. Yet, this risks undermining the West's legacy of scientific achievement, replacing it with a circus that fuels distrust and division—ironically, the very "globalist" chaos Jones rails against.

The Blue Origin flight, and the conspiracies it spawned, reflect deeper tensions in the West's cultural and intellectual fabric. Jones' claims tap into a real scepticism about elite-driven narratives, a sentiment shared by those who see the flight as a tone-deaf distraction from pressing issues (e.g., economic inequality, as Olivia Munn noted). The mission's satirical edge, whether intentional or not, highlights a West grappling with its identity: is it a beacon of innovation, as Meloni and Trump might argue, or a decadent empire chasing clout? The flight's mockery of feminism and space exploration risks eroding trust in institutions like NASA, which once unified the West around shared goals.

This spectacle, while entertaining, risks trivialising the West's scientific heritage and fuelling distrust, challenging the unity Meloni and Trump seek to restore. In the end, the flight may be less a hoax than a mirror, reflecting a culture laughing at its own contradictions.

https://www.infowars.com/posts/exclusive-was-the-blue-origin-katy-perry-space-mission-faked

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/us-govt-katy-perry-doesnt-meet-faa-astronaut-criteria