A piece of news that made headlines in the afternoon of August 20 claimed that a 14-year-old Indian girl made an extraordinary achievement by securing a position of a panellist on “NASA’s MSI Fellowships Virtual Panel”. The source of the news was ANI. It quoted the girl, Diksha Shinde of Maharashtra, claiming that her paper on “a theory of black holes and God” was accepted by NASA and the agency has asked her to write articles for its website. Maharashtra | Diksha Shinde, a 14-yr-old girl in Aurangabad, was selected as a panellist on NASA’s MSI Fellowships Virtual Panel. “I wrote a theory on black holes & God. It was accepted by NASA after 3 attempts. They asked me to write articles for their website,”she said (18.08) pic.twitter.com/yxDqApWKWm — ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2021 ANI shared pictures of alleged certificates and purported email correspondence with NASA to back Shinde’s story. Communication to Diksha Shinde of Aurangabad from NASA for her participation as a panelist on NASA’s MSI Fellowships Virtual panel. Also attached is a notice of acknowledgment of her academic paper pic.twitter.com/XQnkQl6Rdw — ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2021 “The International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research accepted her research paper on ‘We Live in Black Hole?’ in May 2021. Shinde said that she was selected as a panellist for the 2021 MSI Fellowships Virtual Panel in June,” claimed the report. ANI’s complete story can be read here. The ‘news’ was published by nearly every media outlet in India – Livemint, Times Now, She The People, Amar Ujala, The Economic Times, Aaj Tak, Lokmat, News18 English, New18 Bangla, India Times, DNA, Newstrack, Asianet, Latestly and Yahoo News. There are several red flags in Diksha Shinde’s claim which were overlooked by ANI before publishing her story as legitimate. The news agency also did not contact NASA to corroborate Shinde’s story. A NASA spokesperson informed Alt News via an email correspondence, “In May 2021, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement sought applications through a third-party service for expert panellists to review a series of proposals and applications for NASA Fellowships with Minority-Serving Institutions. Diksha Shinde was selected as a panellist based on false information regarding her background and credentials. NASA is currently reviewing the process of verifying potential panellists’ backgrounds. The matter has also been referred to the agency’s Office of Inspector General.” The several red flags in the certificates, proposal, etc shared by Shinde to support her story are discussed below. The certificates ANI shared pictures of two certificates allegedly presented by NASA to Shinde. One of the certificates, more legible than the other, has been posted below. The discrepancies are numbered. 1. The certificate carries the name ‘Jim Bridenstine’ who is identified as ‘CEO and President’. 2. Another person named ‘James Frederick’ has been identified as ‘Department Chair’. Both of these names belong to the same person. James Frederick “Jim” Bridenstine was the 13th Administrator of NASA from April 23, 2018 to January 20, 2021. He was nominated by former US President Donald Trump. The incumbent Administrator is Bill Nelson. The certificate is dated 2020 when Bridenstine was the Administrator. But his name has been split into two to show him as both “CEO and President” and “Department Chair” of NASA. The agency has an Administrator and a Deputy Administrator. These are the highest ranks in NASA. There are several other people at NASA – from scientists, technicians, engineers to analysts – but the agency neither has a President nor a CEO. Furthermore, the certificate vaguely says “Department Chair” without mentioning which department. 3. The third red flag that we noticed was a sentence in the certificate that reads, “For her excellent efforts for the perfect proposals”. The sentence doesn’t sound like something NASA would write. There is also no mention of the said proposal. Moreover, ANI reported that Shinde wrote “a theory that was accepted by NASA” yet the certificate says “perfect proposals” in the plural. Alt News has emailed Bridenstine about the certificates circulating in his name. This article will be updated if he responds. This isn’t an isolated case of Shinde sharing fake certificates in her name. Several social media users pointed out that she had uploaded a certificate of nomination for a $25000 scholarship from the American Astronomical Society on LinkedIn. The certificate resembles a template on Canva.