Blazing Reader,

So, are these actual images of NASA faking the Artemis II lunar trek or are these fake images of NASA faking the mission?

They are most certainly AI-generated images.

But is what they are depicting true?

What is truth and what is fiction are the questions many are asking as this Hollywood-style lunar expedition coincides with advancements in AI video generation:

My views on the validity of the Artemis II mission, and NASA in general, are summed up in this passage from my novel, Much Ado About Corona:

"Stefanie had told me that the International Space Station was a hoax—all green screens, harnesses and zero-G jets. One big black hole for tax dollars, she said. I’d thought she was crazy at the time. But, now seeing how hard the government was pushing the corona hoax, I wouldn’t put it past them to fake just about anything we can’t see with our own eyes."

This just happens to be very similar to Joe Rogan's perspective:

"Before COVID, I would have told you that vaccines were the most important invention in human history. After COVID: I'm like, I don't think we went to the moon."

The scamdemic proved to millions (billions?) of people the scale at which the governments, media and institutions of the world are willing to lie. As Stefanie says in Chapter 101 of Much Ado About Corona:

“Hitler said that ‘broad masses’ were always more easily corrupted by ‘the big lie.’ That because of the ‘primitive simplicity’ of most people’s minds and emotions, they fall victim to the big lie more readily than a small lie. They just can’t believe politicians, doctors and nurses would resort to such large scale falsehoods.”

Now, just like in the early days of COVID, people questioning whether the Artemis crew is in a studio rather than outer space are being labelled "retards" — to which Mike Adams posted on his X account this succinct rebuttal:

"It's not retarded to ask questions. It's retarded to stupidly believe whatever 'authorities' tell you without checking it out yourself. The vast majority of people today just automatically believe the CDC, the FDA, NASA, the White House, etc., without a single critical thought. And then they call other people stupid for daring to challenge the status quo."

As a child, I was a big fan of NASA, space travel and science fiction. In my thirties, however, when YouTube came out with videos from the International Space Station, I began to experience symptoms of critical thinking, after spotting signs of harnesses suspending the astronauts...

I'd also, by that time, become disenchanted with rocket launches. The rockets appear to be arcing into the Bermuda Triangle, not slingshot into orbit. Instead of live satellite footage of the rockets reaching space, we get CGI images.

With the Artemis II April Fools Day launch, I was hoping for something different. Either real footage from space, or at least the latest in AI fakery. To my surprise, it doesn't look like NASA is trying very hard:

As one person commented after the Artemis II launch video: "I'm trying hard not to be a conspiracy theorist, but they aren't making it easy."

Personally, I'm not convinced at all that the Artemis II crew is in space. Why they are lying is another matter. Possibly they have a good reason, such as a gun to their head (giving them the choice between fame or a funeral). It is suspicious that the first three astronauts of the Apollo 1 mission all died during a ground test. Were they eliminated for refusing to star in space theatre or was it actually an unfortunate accident?

Fast forward to April 1st, 2026 and eight American scientists associated with NASA and/or space science have either gone missing or have died (according to the Daily Mail) under bizarre circumstances worthy of a thriller novel.

Other than laundering billions of dollars, what would be the point of such an astronomically large hoax?

Comedian JP Sears believes that the current administration is attempting to "rally the goodwill of the nation, just like when — in my opinion — we pretended to land on the moon in 1969... I could be wrong [but] I don't really feel convinced...."

Call JP Sears, Mike Adams, Joe Rogan and me all retards, but it stretches even this science fiction writer's imagination to believe that this B-movie prop landed on the moon and then took off again:

So, yes, I'd rather be a little slow to believe that, after fifty years, NASA is sending four astronauts (one of whom they say has never been in space before) to circle the moon, sending back photos that could have easily been generated with Grok.

For those interested in questioning NASA's $25 billion-a-year budget, I highly recommend checking out the documentaries American Moon, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon, Astronauts Gone Wild, and ISS Hoax: International Fake Station, as well as Dmitri Revolt's short videos.

You may come to different conclusions than me, which is fine. But at least they'll be your own conclusions, and not what some "trusted expert" told you was true. The world's still recovering from the last time we were told to "follow the science" and "trust the experts."

John C.A. Manley

PS And for all of you asking how the Artemis crew can send videos of themselves floating around in their cramped capsule, consider this possibility:

P.P.S. And remember the wise words of Mark Twain:

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.