In my illustration above, I feature Lauren Sanchez and Katy Perry as ‘Blue Origin’ astronauts, with the film set, camera crew, and Jeff Bezos in the backdrop.
Conspiracy theorists who say “space is fake” aren’t just trolling; they’ve built a whole alternative worldview to explain away modern astronomy, the Moon landings, and even Katy Perry’s very public flirtation with space travel.
This article walks through that belief system on its own terms—and sets it against what we actually know from history, science, and mainstream reporting.
1. “Space is Fake”: Where the idea comes from
Within the modern flat-Earth and Bible-literalist scene, “Space is Fake” is a kind of slogan. At flat-Earth conferences and in online communities, you’ll see it on T-shirts, banners and YouTube thumbnails. Journalists who’ve attended these events describe talks with titles like “Space Is Fake” and “Testing the Moon: A Globe Lie Perspective.”
The core claim goes like this:
- The Earth is flat and covered by a solid dome or firmament.
- The Sun, Moon and stars are small lights embedded in or moving below that dome.
- Therefore, rockets, satellites and space stations cannot exist in the way NASA claims. All imagery of “outer space” must be fabricated in studios or with computer graphics.
Writers who’ve embedded with flat-Earthers describe how this slogan becomes a full identity: questioning NASA is framed as a heroic rejection of “elite lies,” and believing that space is fake is treated as a form of awakening.
Mainstream science coverage, by contrast, treats flat-Earth and “space is fake” rhetoric as a textbook case of science denial: a movement that survives not by producing better evidence, but by casting all official evidence as tainted.
2. “If we landed on the Moon in 1969, why haven’t we done it again?”
A key talking point is the gap between the Apollo landings and today. Conspiracy videos love a question like:
“If NASA really landed on the Moon in 1969, why hasn’t anyone repeated it over 50 years later?”
The insinuation is that the U.S. “lost the technology,” because it never had it in the first place.
What actually happened
- NASA landed on the Moon six times, not once. Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 all put astronauts on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972.
- The last mission, Apollo 17 in December 1972, ended the program mainly for political and financial reasons: Vietnam, domestic spending priorities, and waning public enthusiasm.
Space and science outlets like National Geographic and Business Insider both note that the barrier to returning has been cost and political will, not physics. Robots are much cheaper and safer than sending humans, and for decades that’s where most space budgets went.
More recent analysis points out that:
- A Moon landing program is astronomically expensive—hundreds of billions in today’s money.
- The Cold War “race to the Moon” is over, so there’s no single rival forcing the U.S. to spend at Apollo levels.
- NASA shifted toward the Space Shuttle, then the International Space Station, and now toward partnerships with private companies instead of doing everything in-house.
Meanwhile, the conspiracy community flips this logic. They argue:
- If the U.S. could land on the Moon with 1960s tech, we ought to have lunar cities by now.
- Because we don’t, the original landings must have been faked on soundstages.
Mainstream reporting has repeatedly debunked these hoax claims, from the supposedly “wrong” shadows in photos to the flag “waving” (it doesn’t; it’s on a spring-loaded pole in a vacuum).
3. NASA and “to deceive” in Hebrew
Another favorite meme in “space is fake” circles says:
“NASA means ‘to deceive’ in Hebrew, so they’re literally telling you they’re lying.”
This takes a tiny sliver of linguistic reality and stretches it into a grand plot.
- In modern English, NASA is just an acronym: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- In biblical Hebrew, there is a root nasa (נָשָׂא) meaning “to lift, carry, or bear.” Lexicons show it used in phrases like “lift up your head” or “carry away.”
- There is a different Hebrew root nasha / nashaʼ (נָשַׁא) that can mean “to deceive” or “to lead astray.” That’s a separate word, with different letters and pronunciation.
Conspiracy posts often mash these together, claim that “NASA” secretly encodes the “to deceive” root, then imply that the space agency is advertising its own fraud. Hebrew speakers and Bible reference sites routinely point out that this is philologically wrong: at best a pun, at worst deliberate misinformation.
In other words, the “Hebrew NASA” meme functions more as a branding joke inside the conspiracy community than as evidence of anything sinister.
4. The Bible, the Firmament, and a closed world
Many “space is fake” believers are religious, and they often start from a literalist reading of Genesis:
The firmament (Hebrew raqia) in Genesis 1 is pictured as a solid dome holding back cosmic waters.
Below the dome is the Earth, described in language that, taken strictly literally, sounds flat and immovable.
Some Christian writers acknowledge that the biblical authors almost certainly imagined a flat Earth under a dome, reflecting the cosmology of their time. Flat-Earth advocates seize on this and argue:
- The Bible describes a flat Earth under a firmament.
- The Bible is literally, scientifically true.
- Therefore any claim that Earth is a spinning globe in empty space must be a deception—hence “space is fake.”
Mainstream religious and historical commentary pushes back in two ways:
- It notes that ancient cosmology is phenomenological—describing the world as it appears, not as a physics textbook.
- It points out that reading every poetic or symbolic passage as hard science creates endless contradictions (for instance, with passages that already assume a curved Earth or a vast cosmos).
Articles aimed at general audiences often treat “flat-Earth Bible” arguments as part of a wider pattern: using isolated proof-texts to attack modern science while ignoring the broader interpretive tradition.
5. Billionaires, NASA contracts, and the idea of a global cover-up
From a “space is fake” perspective, billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson aren’t pioneering explorers—they’re the paid front-men of a global illusion.
Here’s the logic:
- Governments need to keep the true shape of the world and the existence of the firmament secret.
- They funnel huge sums into “space programs” that never leave low altitude.
- In return, compliant billionaires get massive contracts, prestige and a monopoly on certain tech.
There is a grain of reality here: the modern space sector is indeed awash in money, and billionaires really do compete for NASA contracts.
Mainstream coverage has documented that:
- The global space economy was estimated at around $469 billion in 2021, with strong growth in commercial launches and satellite services.
- NASA’s Artemis program and other initiatives have awarded multi-billion-dollar contracts to private firms such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, including lunar lander deals worth billions.
- Commentators routinely talk about a “billionaire space race,” with Musk, Bezos and Branson as the main rivals, and debate whether it’s visionary or just ego-driven extravagance.
But the evidence presented in these reports points to competition, not a unified cartel:
- Companies sue each other and NASA over contract awards.
- Different firms pursue very different business models (tourism, internet satellites, deep-space exploration).
- Much of their hardware is independently tracked by amateur observers and international agencies; it’s not possible to hide dozens of launches and orbital vehicles behind a single government screen.
For conspiracy believers, though, every contract announcement becomes further proof: who else could afford to keep up a fake space show except the ultra-rich?
6. Katy Perry: pop star, space tourist, and conspiracy fodder
You asked to reference Katy Perry’s recent “trip as an astronaut,” and she really has leaned hard into space imagery in both fiction and reality.
- Back in 2017 she opened the MTV Video Music Awards with a skit in which she “returns from space” and appears in a glam spacesuit onstage—something entertainment outlets treated as playful, winking sci-fi.
- In 2025, coverage from entertainment and music media reported that Perry joined an all-female Blue Origin crew on a suborbital flight, spending a few minutes in microgravity before returning to Earth.
From a mainstream point of view, this is a mix of:
- Pop culture using space as a fun visual theme.
- The extension of billionaire-backed space tourism to celebrities and influencers.
For “space is fake” proponents, though, it fits perfectly into a narrative of propaganda and predictive programming:
- Music videos and award-show skits are interpreted as “mocking” the public with hints that space travel is just a show.
- Real-world flights with celebrities are recast as publicity stunts designed to keep the illusion alive.
Media pieces that cover flat-Earth culture note how often conspiracists reinterpret pop imagery this way—sometimes even citing phrases like “space is fake” appearing on T-shirts at conferences or in online memes.
7. Why “space is fake” sticks, even in the face of evidence
Psychologists and science-communication researchers see the “space is fake” movement as part of a broader wave of conspiracy thinking:
- It offers simple villains (NASA, billionaires, “global elites”) for complex historical choices about budgets and politics.
- It gives believers a sense of special knowledge and community, which can feel empowering when people feel ignored or anxious about the future.
- It provides a ready-made way to dismiss any counter-evidence—photos, videos, astronaut testimony—as part of the hoax.
Studies of conspiracy belief in the U.S. find that a non-trivial minority of people say they’re unsure whether the Earth is round, or whether the Moon landings were genuine, even when they don’t fully embrace flat-Earth ideology.
At the same time, science reporting keeps documenting:
- Satellite navigation, Earth-observation images and live video from the ISS that wouldn’t work on a flat, domed Earth.
- Independent evidence for a round Earth going back over 2,000 years, from observations of ships disappearing hull-first over the horizon to modern measurements.
So the clash isn’t over data as such; it’s over who is trusted to interpret that data.
8. Pulling it together
If you zoom out, the “space is fake” conspiracy weaves together four big strands:
- Historical suspicion about the Moon landings and Cold War propaganda.
- Religious literalism about the firmament and the shape of the Earth.
- Linguistic wordplay about NASA and Hebrew roots.
- Economic resentment toward billionaires and government contracts.
Each strand has some connection to real history or language, but in the conspiracy narrative they’re stitched into a single, total explanation: everything from Apollo 11 to Katy Perry’s Blue Origin flight becomes part of an enormous staged performance under an impenetrable dome.
Seen from outside that worldview—and from the perspective of mainstream media, historians and scientists—space is not fake, but the conspiracy is very real in the sense that it shapes how thousands of people interpret every rocket, every astronaut, and every starry image.
Whether you find that fascinating, worrying, or both, understanding the structure of the story is the first step to talking about it without either mocking or endorsing it.