Artemis II

April 1st

Flerfs don't like the launch date as if something happening on April 1st meant that it's fake.

Hello World

Flatearthers use two photos taken by Artemis II while pretending that one of them is from the Apollo missions. Some of them also think that the two photos are taken 12 hours apart, as one of them is brightened, while at the same time demonstrating that they can't be 12 hours apart and then blame NASA for it.^[1] ^[2]

Source files and EXIF metadata (originals + JSON)

Asset ID	NASA Images catalog	Original JPG	Machine-readable metadata
art002e000193	images.nasa.gov	orig	metadata.json
art002e000192	images.nasa.gov	orig	metadata.json

The Blue Marble from 1972 is the one below.^[3] As flerfs don't notice, "Blue Marble" is showing the day side of earth, while "Hello World" was taken at night.

Jared Polin made a video explaining the difference between the photos.^[4]

Dave McKeegan also made a video explaining the photo.^[5]

Earthrise

They try to do the same thing with earthrise, by using two times the earthrise photo from Apollo 8 and slightly manipulate one. The actual photo taken during Artemis II is very different.^[6] It doesn't even show the same phase.

Jared Polin also made a video comparing the two earthrise photos.^[7]

Balloon

Flerfs are also trying to claim that the Artemis rocket is a balloon by using AI generated images.

If you compare it to a photo of the actual rocket, it becomes immediately obvious that they don't even look the same.^[8]

Moon Zoom

Apparently flerfs don't even know that zoom exists.

There are birds therefore fake

According to DITRH there being birds is evidence of it being fake.

DITRH: Look, there there's always going to be an animal. So, they have a bird. They have a fake bird flying to the scene right now.

^[9]

Different angles therefore fake

DITRH also thinks that an event switching between different cameras, something that happens in virtually every major live event, means that it's fake.^[10]

Toilet Location

The answer to question 1 can be seen in the diagram.

^[11]

To answer question 2, there is no air in space to slow down the rocket. Furthermore forces depend on acceleration, not speed. So it doesn't matter how fast they are moving.

Escape vehicle

Flerfs think the Emergency Egress System baskets leaving the launch tower, means that the astronauts left the rockets before launch. The baskets are automatically released at launch to prevent them from being damaged.

Globey McGlobeface made a video showing that the baskets were empty.^[12]

Green Screen

Glitch

Flerfs think that text showing up on the stuffed toy that the Artemis crew had on board is evidence of a green screen. The text is caused by an overlay from the news broadcast. NASA's original broadcast doesn't have that issue.

^[13]

Studio

Conspiracy nuts use an AI generated image as evidence of Artemis being filmed using a green screen.

The first time to the moon

Flerfs also misquote Reid Wiseman at a press conference on September 24, 2025.^[14]

Reid Wiseman: This is the first time we are going to send humans to the moon.

The full quote is actually:

Reid Wiseman: This is the first time we are going to send humans to the moon and have humans in low earth orbit.

No lunar lander on the flight

Awake Souls and Co complained about them not taken a lunar lander on Artemis II. ^[15] Artemis II, as NASA said from the beginning is just a fly-by. Carrying the lander is just useless weight, and is done in a later mission.

Hologram projectors

David Weiss claims that the lightning towers are hologram projectors.^[16] Holograms can't create the kind of heat and noise a rocket produces.

David Weiss: Let's talk about this towers. I saw somebody did a thing where there's a technology where they can have three towers that can project a real life looking hologram.

^[17]

Reflections

Flatearthers are hallucinating another person on Orion.

Christina Koch actress

Flatearthers think that the Christina Koch is an actress because there is an actress of the same name in the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. ^[18] ^[19]

Movies therefore fake

Flatearthers also bring also up the movies Capricorn 1 and Fly me to the moon as evidence that the NASA missions must have been faked.

The rocket doesn't go straight up

Flerfs keep using the age old claim that rockets don't go straight up therefore it must be fake. Anyone who understands rockets, knows that they first go into orbit.

^[20]

Astronauts aren't visible in phone screens

The conspiracy nuts are so desperate, they claim the astronauts aren't real, because they don't see them in phone screens. The resolution is shit when filming a phone screen, but the astronauts are still visible. I don't even understand how that's even a point. If Artemis was faked, they would still just have some people walk around there.

^[21]

The Debunker made a video about that.^[22]

Shiny heatshield

Conspiracy nuts think that the footage of the heatshield is fake, because it's shiny when it separates from the service module and charred after reentry. The charred heatshield is actually Artemis I, but Artemis II uses the same one.

^[23]

^[24]

With even the tiniest bit of research you can find the heatshield being installed and it is shiny as seen during the separation.

^[25]

Related to the heatshield is another conspiracy theory that there should be steam at splashdown. By the time it reaches the ocean, it already cooled down a lot to not be hot enough to produce steam.