Unpacking claims Jeff Bezos opening the Blue Origin capsule hatch was staged

Following the April 14, 2025, journey of private space technology company Blue Origin's New Shepard Mission NS-31 — a highly publicized (and criticized) 11-minute spaceflight with an all-female crew of celebrities and scientists — claims circulated online that part of the crew's return to Earth was staged for cameras.

According to the rumors, video footage showed the return capsule's hatch briefly opening — and then shutting again — before Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos appeared to unlock the hatch with a tool, after which point the crew exited the capsule.

One particular video that social media users said showed the alleged mishap appeared on TikTok (archived) and in multiple posts on X (archived, archived). Users pointed out a moment in the video in which the hatch door appears to open prematurely. The video's creator placed emoji over the faces of Bezos and his colleague, seemingly for comedic effect.

Another TikTok video (archived) and an Instagram reel (archived) showed an apparently unmodified version of the footage. Text included with this TikTok video asked, "Did anyone catch them prematurely opening the door and clearly being told to close it? AND then jeff bezos opens it with a tool?"

@thejamieleee just thought it was odd they can easily open it from the inside lol #blueoriginlaunch #katyperry #jeffbezos #rocketlaunch #spacelaunch #fypシ #fypシ゚viral ♬ original sound - JAMIE | sahm + daily life

The video footage in these posts came from a livestream documenting the return capsule's landing shared on the official Blue Origin YouTube channel, which shows no signs of being digitally manipulated or generated using artificial intelligence. This seemingly authentic footage of the event does show the hatch briefly opening inward before Bezos appears to unlock it.

Snopes reached out to Blue Origin's media team via email to clarify whether the hatch opening was indeed staged for any reason and will update this article if a response is received.

In the Blue Origin stream, it appears that the hatch briefly opens inward starting around the 1:45:28 mark, as Bezos and a Blue Origin team member stand nearby. The hatch quickly shuts again as the team member moves closer to it and leans in, as if speaking to the capsule's occupants. A split screen then shows the scene from different angles, including a wider shot of a variety of personnel and media around the landing site holding cameras and microphones.

Around the 1:48:18 mark, Bezos can be seen stepping up to open the hatch with a tool.

The video shows the hatch swinging open for Bezos with very little force, seemingly supporting claims that Bezos' involvement in unlocking it was a staged photo opportunity for the media. For example, ABC News used footage from the hatch opening on its Facebook page (archived) — but showed only Bezos opening the hatch, with no mention of the prior apparent opening. The ABC News clip had the title, "Jeff Bezos opens Blue Origin capsule."

Blue Origin's NS-31 mission was the company's 11th human flight in its New Shepard program. Blue Origin's website describes the New Shepard vehicle as follows:

Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, New Shepard is Blue Origin's fully reusable, suborbital rocket system built for human flight from the beginning. During the 11-minute journey, astronauts soar past the Kármán line (100 km/62 miles), the internationally recognized boundary of space, experiencing several minutes of weightlessness and witnessing life-changing views of Earth. The vehicle is fully autonomous—there are no pilots.

The crew of NS-31 included pop star Katy Perry, journalist Gayle King, filmmaker Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and journalist and author Lauren Sanchez, who is engaged to Bezos.

On its Instagram page (archived), Blue Origin shared video from inside the capsule that showed the crew in zero gravity.