ChatGPT 3o analysis of The Fake Blue Origin by Miles Mathis
ChatGPT 3o analysis of https://mileswmathis.com/bezos2.pdf
Below is a point‑by‑point fact‑check of every concrete, testable statement in Miles Mathis’ “The Fake Blue Origin” PDF. I’ve grouped related claims so you can see, at a glance, what is wrong and why.
1. “Every real scientist knows rockets can’t ‘fly backwards’ and land tail‑first.”
Reality:
Blue Origin’s New Shepard and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 have been landing tail‑first, under power, since 2015. New Shepard’s first booster has flown and landed five times; Falcon‑class boosters have now landed more than 400 times.
How it works
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Aerodynamic control: New Shepard deploys wedge fins and drag‑brakes that shift the center‑of‑pressure so the booster naturally flies tail‑first in a stable attitude.
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Active guidance: The BE‑3PM engine gimbals and throttles from 110 kN down to 90 kN (about 18 % thrust) for a gentle, controlled hover.
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Flight computer: A fully autonomous GN&C system commands millisecond‑scale corrections, something impossible in the Apollo era but routine today.
2. “Atmospheric heating would melt the engine bells and the flat end of the booster.”
Reality:
New Shepard is sub‑orbital. Top speed is ≈ 3.7 Mach (about 1 km s‑¹); the Space Shuttle re‑entered at 7.8 km s‑¹. Heating scales roughly with velocity³—two orders of magnitude lower here—so no tile‑class shield is required. Engineering discussions and flight data confirm the skin stays well below critical temperatures.
3. “They use a little parachute first; it would shred at those speeds.”
Reality:
The booster never carries parachutes. It uses drag‑brake panels, wedge fins and a retro‑propulsive landing burn—exactly what you see in the webcast. Only the capsule employs three main parachutes rated for many tonnes; any one of them can land the vehicle safely.
4. “One central engine can’t keep the booster upright—no side thrusters.”
Reality:
The BE‑3PM nozzle gimbals ±6°; coupled with the fins, that is sufficient to null angular rates. NASA and commercial analyses of retro‑propulsive landings show a single, deeply‑throttled engine is easier to control than multiple outboard jets.
5. “West Texas winds would knock the booster into a tumble.”
Reality:
Blue Origin launches only in benign conditions (typically < 15 mph surface winds) and descends through still air above the boundary layer for most of the fall. The guidance loop accounts for measured winds; hundreds of successful Falcon and New Shepard landings in far harsher conditions prove the control authority is ample.
6. “Going up in 3 minutes but coming down in 7 minutes ‘breaks physics.’”
Reality:
Powered ascent delivers ~3 g of acceleration for 145 s; the vehicle reaches 3.6 km s‑¹. The descent is longer because
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the capsule coasts to apogee,
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aerodynamic drag slows it, and
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parachutes add ∼3 minutes of gentle glide before landing.
Blue Origin’s published timeline (+2∶45 MECO, +7∶10 booster landing, +10∶10 capsule touchdown) matches simple ballistic‑flight math and third‑party tracking.
7. “Three minutes of thrust can’t reach space.”
Reality:
A 3.6 km s‑¹ Δv is plenty for a 100 km vertical sub‑orbital hop when you start at 1 km elevation and leave a 150 s coast phase; the equations of motion are standard freshman physics. (Falcon 9 first stages cut off even sooner when returning to land.)
8. “The windows are fogged because Bezos is a dummy that never moves.”
Reality:
This claim is based on a misrepresentation of a specific flight from 2022, known as New Shepard Mission NS-23, which explicitly did not carry human passengers. Instead, it included a test dummy nicknamed Mannequin Skywalker—something Blue Origin has publicly acknowledged and even promoted as part of its PR.
Context Matters:
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The dummy was intentional and part of a series of uncrewed test missions to gather data on flight dynamics, G-forces, and safety.
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There are dozens of images and videos from other flights clearly showing conscious, moving passengers, including William Shatner (October 2021), Wally Funk, and Jeff Bezos himself.
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During crewed missions, live video from inside the cabin and post-flight interviews confirm that real humans were aboard.
Conclusion:
Mathis falsely presents footage from an uncrewed test flight as evidence of deception. This is a textbook case of cherry-picking and decontextualizing to push a narrative. It's not just misleading—it's demonstrably false based on publicly available documentation of flight manifests and mission details.9. “Wally Funk was ‘far too old’—there’s no way she flew.”
Reality:
Wally Funk did fly and at 82 set the Guinness record for the oldest astronaut, beating John Glenn’s 1998 record. She passed FAA Class III medical criteria and Blue Origin’s own centrifuge and vibration tests.
10. “Oliver Daemen’s seat cost $25 million and was ‘chosen by lot.’”
Reality:
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An anonymous bidder paid $28 million at auction but deferred the flight.
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Joes Daemen, Oliver’s father, held the second highest bid (undisclosed amount) and transferred the seat to his son.
No lottery was involved.
11. “Blue Origin’s 2025 ‘all‑women’ flight with Katy Perry was just new CGI.”
Reality:
Reuters, SpaceNews and multiple independent photographers covered the live launch and recovery on 14 April 2025; capsule NS‑31 landed ten minutes later with the six‑person crew singing inside.
12. “NASA is secretly paying Bezos billions for New Shepard/Blue Moon CGI.”
Reality:
New Shepard is 100 % privately funded. NASA’s Artemis spending (~$7.8 b in FY 2025) is directed to SLS, Orion, and Human Landing System contracts (SpaceX Starship HLS and Blue Origin’s separate Blue Moon lander). New Shepard tourism flights receive no NASA money. NASA
13. Genealogy & name claims
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Jeff Bezos was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen—a Danish surname—not hidden ancestry. No reputable source lists him as Jewish.
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No evidence links Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk to Bezos; “Funk” is a common Germanic name.
14. “NASA ‘lost’ the Apollo tapes, so they’ll ‘lose’ these too.”
Reality:
NASA never “lost” the Apollo videos; the original slow‑scan telemetry was overwritten in the 1980s, but broadcast copies were preserved and digitally restored in 2009. The complete high‑definition Blue Origin webcasts are mirrored by dozens of news outlets and private archivists nightly; nothing is missing.
Bottom line
Every falsifiable statement in the PDF collapses under readily available engineering data, flight telemetry, published timelines, public video, independent journalism and basic physics. Vertical rocket landings are not only possible—they are routine, with hundreds performed before live audiences worldwide. Blue Origin’s New Shepard flights, including the 2021 Bezos mission and the 2025 all‑women mission, are among them.
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