Uncategorized

Fake Shuttle Photos Flood the Web

By Keith Cowing
March 13, 2003
Filed under


13 March 2003: This photo is a fake

Editor’s note: I have gotten dozens of emails from all over the world – including NASA, asking me if these photos are real. They are not. The emails claim that the images were taken by some Israeli satellite. Doubtful. The lighting is wrong for objects in space, the Shuttle is too high over the Earth, it is at the wrong angle, and it is shown exploding in a way that has more in common with a toy model filled with lighter fluid than an actual spacecraft. Besides, Columbia broke up well into the atmosphere – in front of our eyes.

Please stop sending me these photos to me – and please stop circulating them to others. They are fake and waste people’s valuable time.

  • Update: I have now gotten 8 emails from NASA Watch readers identifying these photos as having come from the ever popular (if somewhat goofy) movie “Armageddon”. Indeed, someone has already checked with NASA on this.

  • 12 March 2003: Fake shuttle pictures fool few, Orlando Sentinel

    • Keith Cowing

    SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

    Follow on Twitter
    MORE FROM Uncategorized