Art002e013365 (April 7, 2026) – The Artemis II crew – (clockwise from left) Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover – pause for a group photo with their zero gravity indicator "Rise," inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home. Following a swing around the far side of the Moon on April 6, 2026, the crew exited the lunar sphere of influence (the point at which the Moon's gravity has a stronger pull on Orion than the Earth's) on April 7, and are headed back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 10.
Humans have orbited the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. But besides the advances in space tech between Apollo 11 in 1969 and Artemis II in 2026, there’s another key technological change between those two launches: Artificial intelligence.
According to fact checks from mutlipe news outlets, including BBC and CBC, viral photos and videos circulating online claiming that Artemis II footage is fake are themselves AI-generated fakes.
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
