Some social media users are sharing a YouTube video that claims NASA halted ocean exploration efforts in 1978.
The video features tranquil scenes of swimming sharks, fish and manta rays. A narrator says NASA began exploring the "deep sea" in 1958 and then stopped suddenly in June 1978. Thereafter, the video claims, NASA began working on "getting us off the planet."
"Have you ever wondered why NASA stopped exploring the ocean," asks the narrator. "What did they discover down there?"
A link to the video, which was posted on Facebook on Aug. 31, was shared more than 125 times, according to Crowdtangle, a social media metrics tool.
An Instagram version received nearly 50,000 likes in a week, but has since been deleted.
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The claim in the video is false. NASA continues to explore the ocean, including the deep sea.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the video for comment.
NASA spokesperson Peter Jacobs told USA TODAY that NASA has conducted ocean science research since the agency was founded.
"That includes field campaigns, remote sensing satellite observations and modeling studies," he said in an email. "Specifically regarding exploration below the ocean surface, NASA has continued to be involved in this research, with ... ship and sensor-based science involving the deeper ocean."
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