The falsehoods -- circulating across tech platforms including X, TikTok and Facebook -- have also added fresh fuel to a longstanding conspiracy theory that NASA's 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing was faked.
Hashtags such as "fake space" and "fake NASA" have gained traction online since NASA's lunar fly-by sent astronauts farther from Earth than any human before.
Among the falsehoods was an image, viewed over a million times on X, purporting to show the Artemis II crew floating before a green screen and facing film cameras -- suggesting their mission was staged in a studio, but in reality bore the hallmarks of AI manipulation.
Some users also shared a video showing text appearing through the mission's official mascot as purported proof the flight was staged.
But a digital forensics expert told AFP's fact-checkers that the anomaly was the result of a failed text overlay by a news station that had syndicated the official feed.
Unfounded claims that the Artemis II mission detected a mysterious moving object on the moon's surface also racked up millions of views across platforms.
The misinformation spread as four astronauts -- preparing on Friday for a high-stakes re-entry and splashdown -- captivated the world with stunning visuals from their fly-by of the Earth's natural satellite from aboard the Orion spacecraft.
Once confined to the internet's fringes, conspiracy theories have moved squarely into the mainstream amid growing mistrust of public institutions...
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