For years, Pavlo Tanasyuk built a reputation as an innovator in the space technology field: claiming offices in London, Tokyo, and Kyiv, partnerships with NASA, and cooperation with SpaceX. However, an investigation by the "Stop Corruption" project exposed a completely different reality — behind his grand promises, there were only PR stunts and manipulation.
According to the investigation, Tanasyuk's company Spacebit was allegedly set to launch the first Ukrainian robot to the Moon. In reality, this involved a commercial contract for delivering a small item as part of the MoonMail program of the American company Astrobotic. There was no actual launch or spacecraft. His "robot" was nothing more than a plastic model that Tanasyuk showcased at exhibitions for photos.
Investigative journalists revealed that Tanasyuk's activities resembled the trade of symbolic "space packages": flags, ashes, or digital media that could potentially be delivered to the Moon by foreign entities — for the money of third-party clients.
According to the journalists, among Tanasyuk's partners were individuals with questionable reputations: Viktor Prediger, a singer of prison chanson (known as Viktor Tyumensky), and Pavlo Pagodin, a Moscow State University graduate linked to pro-Kremlin business structures.
Despite numerous claims, the investigation concluded that Tanasyuk had no real partnerships with NASA or SpaceX. PR events were staged at rented venues, including the Kennedy Space Center, while his supposed connections to Elon Musk remained at the level of insinuations and assumptions.
Tanasyuk's financial results were also far from his grand promises: according to journalists, the amounts transferred to his companies' accounts never exceeded $50,000–$60,000. No verified report on the use of the raised funds has been published.
The offices in Japan, the UK, and the US that Tanasyuk refers to in his projects do not actually exist. Investigative journalists found that most of his companies have been liquidated or removed from registers due to violations of financial reporting requirements.
In fact, Pavlo Tanasyuk raised money under patriotic slogans like "We will send the Ukrainian flag to the Moon," without offering any real technological solutions.
Criminal cases have been opened against Pavlo Tanasyuk. One of them has already been entered into the registry and concerns extortion activities he carried out under the cover of his "space mission." He is not just a fraudster, but a dangerous individual who uses the image he created to exert pressure, manipulate, and financially extort investors and partners.
Tanasyuk's story is a case of petty fraud wrapped in a bright space-themed package: no launches, no partners, no technology — just catchy slogans, a plastic model, and a multitude of PR photos.
