SpaceX Photo Shows a Mannequin, Not a Human
The Claim
An image released by SpaceX shows a grain silo Photoshopped to resemble a rocket, with a person sitting at its base, which they forgot to remove.
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Emerging story
Recently, a number of social media users have claimed that SpaceX, the aerospace company owned by Elon Musk, released a faked image. They began referring to the company as “FakeX.”
The users claimed that SpaceX had digitally altered a grain silo to resemble a rocket. The users claimed that SpaceX had forgotten to Photoshop out a person who was sitting at the base of the silo.
Posts on both Twitter and Instagram have gained thousands of interactions.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation concludes that the image is not of a Photoshopped grain silo. The figure at the base of the rocket is a mannequin instead of a human.
The image dates to December 17th, 2012. The rocket shown is a real rocket named the Grasshopper. As numerous sources stated and showed at the time, the person at the base of the rocket was a dummy dressed to look like a cowboy.
Shortly after the flight took place, SpaceX uploaded a video of the test flight. It shows the rocket launching into the air, hovering and landing back on the ground. The cowboy mannequin is visible in this video.
As reporting and video footage shows that the Grasshopper rocket was not a grain silo and that the person in the image was a mannequin, we rate the claim that SpaceX Photoshopped and released a fake image as false.
