Social media users have claimed that because stars are not routinely visible in photographs taken from spacecraft, space itself is a hoax. One clip that circulated online showed images taken from the Artemis I Orion shuttle with no stars visible. However, the daytime sky on Earth is only blue due to “scattering of light in the Earth’s atmosphere,” Smethurst said. In the case of the Artemis I mission, the settings would be adjusted to focus on the Earth, Moon and the spacecraft itself. This can be tested at home, McCarthy told Reuters, by trying to take a photo of a full moon and stars at the same time.

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