The orbit of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has revealed something extraordinary about our planet, sparking similar reactions from social media users.
Earlier this year, the Fram2 mission successfully offered the ‘first views of Earth’s polar regions’ captured by the Dragon spacecraft in April. Recently, another captivating video of the spacecraft has been released.
On April 1, at approximately 9:46 pm, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a SpaceX Dragon lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Part of SpaceX’s Fram2 mission involved attempting to orbit Earth from pole to pole, a feat confirmed as successful by Elon Musk.
SpaceX shared the ‘first views of Earth’s polar regions from Dragon’ on Twitter, prompting users to echo similar sentiments.
These sentiments were similar to reactions to a recent video shared by NASA astronaut Don Pettit.
Pettit tweeted, “Dragon orbiting across Europe into Asia.”
The video showcases our planet as the spacecraft speeds by, distinctly showing the Kármán line, which marks the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
One viewer commented on the familiar sight of our planet, saying, “Huh, look at that the Earth is round.”
Another humorously added, “Look how flat that is!!!”
Someone else questioned, “Seriously, how can anyone be a flat-earther?”
Though many focused on Earth’s roundness, some viewers claimed the video was ‘fake’.
One user speculated, “Okay… let’s say the sun is behind the earth at the time the video starts, hence its dark ….. look at the size of earth and then the distance of the earth dragon orbits …. lets say 50%…. where is the sun at this point, why is it not daytime? …..ffs wake up people.”
Another viewer questioned, “This is not real. Where are the stars?”
Yet another remarked, “That is absolutely a fake video.”
Elon Musk responded to these claims, stating, “This is a real video.”
Recently, a former Flat Earther spoke about realizing that Earth is spherical during a paid trip to Antarctica.
Jeran Campanella, who operates the YouTube channel ‘Jeranism’, was flown to Antarctica for $35,000 by someone eager to disprove his theory.
The theory posits that on a flat Earth, there can be no midnight sun, as it would be impossible for the Sun to remain visible for 24 hours.
The ‘Center for Inquiry’ featured Campanella on its YouTube channel, where he discussed how he ignored evidence supporting a spherical Earth.
Host Rob Palmer inquired about his observations of the Moon in Antarctica, to which Campanella acknowledged realizing his mistake, given that the Flat Earth theory would predict an upside-down Moon from his location.
Campanella reflected: “No matter what you threw at me I could come up with some [excuse] – and I thought that was actually research, I thought that was actually doing something right.
“Now I realize, ”Oh man that’s one of the most biased, basically confirmation biased positions that you can take’ where you’re just looking for the evidence that meets your belief and then you really disregard anything else – you really just throw it out, it’s almost like you don’t hear it.”