Thomas Pesquet and the "moon plot": for scientists, too much fake news

There are those who wonder, with a hint of suspicion, why man is struggling so much to return to the Moon, fifty years after the last Apollo missions. Others question the usefulness of mobilizing so many human and financial resources to catapult humans into space. Finally, some openly doubt that the Americans actually managed to plant their flag on our satellite on July 21, 1969.

Among the millions of accounts that follow or comment on the slightest deeds and gestures of Thomas Pesquet on Twitter, many are those who do not hesitate to mistreat science. The recent controversy shows it: the astronaut thought he was doing well by explaining, during an interview, that the Artemis mission would propel humans into a fairly large lunar orbit, and therefore further into space than during the Apollo missions.

Las!, his remarks quickly found themselves truncated and distorted, magically transforming the scientist into a defender of the “moon plot”. “On social networks and especially Twitter, many people have actually shared the extract to spread confusion and thus fuel conspiracy theories that suggest that man has never set foot on the Moon. “, detail the Meltwater analysts who combed through Thomas Pesquet’s Twitter account for L’Express.

Limited offer. 2 months for 1€ without commitment

On social networks, the controversy of which it is the subject has been extremely commented. It would have been the subject of approximately 22,200 mentions, a figure very far from the usual standards. The hashtag #MoonHoax referring to the “moon plot” born in the United States during the first half of the 1970s, thus took precedence over the hashtag #Artemis, the official name of the mission whose launch was postponed to Saturday 3 september.

On Twitter, the sentiment associated with Thomas Pesquet’s tweets remains mostly positive, warn Meltwater experts. But the difference with the proportion of negative messages remains small (15.5% against 10% of negative reactions, the rest being rather neutral). Unsurprisingly, Thomas Pesquet’s tweet that caused the most negative reactions is the one in which he attacks “manipulators” who “explain to you that everything is wrong”.

Impossible Talks

Most of the accounts that participated in the controversy are not certified. They correspond rather to young people, of male sex. Faced with the controversy, Thomas Pesquet has somewhat lost his legendary composure. “Why do we have to waste precious time on this again: of course yes, the human went to the Moon during the Apollo missions. And we will go back there”, he wrote on Twitter. But beyond this testimony, many other scientists share, behind the scenes, their weariness. “The younger generations of researchers still have the energy to convince, but others have long since thrown in the towel,” says a space expert.

“Not only is discussion not possible with a segment of the population, but it is also not always possible to demonstrate everything in the moment, confides a researcher. One day, a person wanted to be shown Why didn’t we get more wind in our faces since the Earth is rotating!” More generally, experts are surprised and worried to see the reappearance – especially in the United States – of theories stipulating that the Earth is flat.

L’application L’Express

To track analysis and decryption wherever you are

Download the app

“Honestly, at this stage, we can do nothing more for them, asserts a scientist. On the other hand, certain questions are legitimate. For example, many Internet users wonder why we waited so long to set out again to conquer from the moon.” The answer, however, is not mysterious. “In the 1960s, the Americans were looking to mark the occasion by sending men to the moon because they had failed to launch the first satellite and the first man in space. Today, we are reliving this competition in a way, but with new players like China. In short, the stake remains above all political”, underlines an expert. Even if it will be an opportunity to advance science.