Fact Check: Sunita Williams meets Trump and Elon Musk after returning from space? No, image is AI-generated

Hyderabad: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore returned to Earth on March 18 after an extended mission that lasted 286 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their mission commenced on June 5, 2024, but was prolonged due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.

In coordination with NASA, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule facilitated the return, safely landing off the coast of Florida on March 18.

Meanwhile, an image of the astronauts with Elon Musk and US president Donald Trump has been circulating, suggesting they met after their landing.

An X user shared the image with the caption, “India’s brave daughter Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to earth after 9 months and 17 hours of journey. Many congratulations and best wishes to both of them! Thank you, Donald Trump and Elon Musk for bringing the astronauts back!” (Archive)

Another post with the image can be found here. (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the image is AI-generated. Any implication that the image is real or depicts such a meeting is false.

While reviewing the accounts that shared the image, we found that former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary had shared both a video of a spacecraft capsule returning and the image while congratulating Sunita Williams on her return. However, we noticed that the image carried a Grok watermark, indicating that it was AI-generated.

We also found a user asking Grok about the authenticity of the image, and the AI developed by xAI clarified that the image with the ‘Grok’ watermark was likely AI-generated and not real.

We also noticed several discrepancies commonly found in AI-generated images, such as a lack of uniformity in Musk’s face and Trump’s appearance being younger with one eye distorted.

Finally, we analysed the image using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which determined with 99 per cent certainty that it contained AI-generated or deepfake content.

Hence, we conclude that the image is AI-generated.