Astronaut floating above Earth. Here is the truth behind the viral picture

CT Web Desk

Chandigarh, January 14

An image of an astronaut moving about in the space has gone viral on social media. While many are wandering how this was possible, others were skeptical about the authenticity of the image.

A Twitter user, who posted the photo, wrote: “Insane picture of astronaut Bruce McCandless II, the first person to conduct an untethered free flight in space”.

Insane picture of astronaut Bruce McCandless II, the first person to conduct an untethered free flight in space. pic.twitter.com/6HTKkrE0DF

— John Pompliano (@JohnPompliano) January 12, 2022

But what is the truth behind the picture.

It’s just a clip art on a background… smh pic.twitter.com/y0mgFaOVLk

— Łucas Graham (@Lucasgraham25) January 12, 2022

🚩🚩🚩

He did this in 1984. Literally just google his name. This photo is photoshopped tho, but only to make the mountains appear like they do. He really did this untethered. He died in 2017!

Stop spreading fake pics tho, that’s messed up.

— 🚩Crypto Cyber Police (@datcyberguy) January 12, 2022

Believe it or not, the untethered spacewalk is a fact. A report by USA Today confirmed that parts of the viral photo were taken from the 1984 picture of astronaut Bruce McCandless II during the first-ever untethered spacewalk.

That year, Mr McCandless and fellow astronaut Robert Lee Stewart piloted a jet propulsion backpack, called the Manned Maneuvering Unit.

While the untethered spacewalk did take place, the photo shared on Twitter is definitely digitally altered. According to USA Today, the original NASA image did not show the mountain ranges that are visible in the viral photo. Instead, the Earth image was taken from a mountain range photo, captured during a flight from Toronto to Beijing, China.

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