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A rumor recently surfaced online about rapper Young Thug and other A-listers traveling to outer space in a Blue Origin flight following the recently successful mission conducted by the aerospace company. The X account @DailyNoud made the claim on April 16, 2025, in a post that was captioned:
“BREAKING: Young Thug will be the next artist launched into space next month (via Blue Origin).”
The post was accompanied by an image of Young Thug wearing an astronaut’s costume, alongside a screenshot of an alleged tweet from Blue Origin’s X account, which read:
“Meet the New Shepard NS-32 crew launching in May 2025: Tom Cruise, Kendall Jenner, Jameis Winston, Drew ‘Druski’ Desbordes, Young Thug, and Angel Reese!”
A link and images of the six alleged crew members also appeared in the screenshot. Meanwhile, Daily Noud’s post amassed 1.8 million views at the time of writing.
However, the claim has turned out to be fake. Blue Origin did not make any such post on its official X account. Additionally, the Daily Noud account is known for its satirical and fabricated content, as mentioned in its bio.
“#1 Source For PARODY Hip-Hop News | Follow For Viral Content | These are fake stories | Not affiliated with @DailyLoud,” the profile description states.
Thus, the now-viral claim can be debunked as fake, seemingly meant for virality and sensationalism. Additionally, the screenshot of Blue Origin's tweet and Young Thug's image can be deemed as computer-generated.
Exploring the latest Blue Origin spaceflight
On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin launched an all-female, fully autonomous spaceflight as part of its New Shepard Mission NS-31.
A New Shepard launch vehicle was used for the journey, which comprised singer-songwriter Katy Perry, CBS host Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, space researcher and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, movie producer Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sanchez, the fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
The six women traveled inside a rocket from a launch pad in West Texas and reached the Karman Line, the official space boundary located 100 kilometers above sea level. Here, they briefly experienced weightlessness.
Later, they successfully returned to Earth in a parachute-aided soft landing. The total span of the spaceflight was 11 minutes, and it was broadcast by Blue Origin, a company founded in 2000.
No pilot was present aboard, and the passengers did not manually operate the vehicle. The members were trained over two days, focusing on physical fitness, emergency protocols, safety measures, and zero-gravity procedures. Two support members, called Crew Members Six & Seven, were present on the ground. One of them guided the passengers while the other communicated from the control room.
It was the first all-female flight crew in over 60 years, and the mission was aimed at promoting space tourism. Jeff Bezos was also present at the launch pad, along with Gayle King’s close friend and multihyphenate Oprah Winfrey and socialites Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian.
The spaceflight taken by Katy Perry and five others is estimated to cost between $150,000 to $200,000 per person, while each launch costs around $1 to $3 million, as per Reuters. Meanwhile, the company’s website claims it is trying to reduce the cost of future space travel.
Before the all-female crew, Star Trek star William Shatner traveled to space for free as a guest of Blue Origin in 2021. Meanwhile, in the wake of the company’s latest celebrity-bound spaceflight, conspiracy theories have surfaced online, calling the mission “fake.”
A footage of the capsule door being opened from inside before being shut has circulated online, which stands in sharp contrast to the clip from a few minutes later, showing Jeff Bezos opening the hatch with a specialized tool to greet the passengers.
This has raised eyebrows across social networking sites, with conspiracy theorists pointing out that pressurized doors of space capsules open outwards and not inwards, and they often need a significant amount of time and a team of technicians to help with the process, which wasn’t the case for the latest flight.
Others argued that the landing capsule appeared unblemished, which was seemingly both confusing and suspicious. Furthermore, some theorists claimed to see alleged satanic symbolism on the mission patch.
In the wake of the criticism and conspiracy theories, the CBS Mornings host Gayle King said on the April 15 show that she was “very disappointed and very saddened” by the negative reactions. She shared the same sentiment during an interview with Entertainment Tonight, adding that people who haven’t left the Earth’s atmosphere should not be commenting on their feat.
King further discussed Blue Origin’s attempt to figure out a way to “put waste into space” and make Earth a “better” living place. She shared a similar opinion during her morning show on Tuesday, where she was accompanied by Aisha Bowe.
