Millions of people around the globe gathered on the internet to watch in awe SpaceX’s live stream of the rocket blasting off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 3.45pm EST (8.45pm GMT).
Thousands more gathered at the Cape Canaveral space centre yesterday, joyously counting down the seconds until the rocket sent a Tesla Roadster on a billion year journey through space.
But droves of skeptics and disbelievers immediately took to social media platforms to voice their concerns and accuse SpaceX of faking the whole operation.
Flat Earthers, who are individuals who cling on to the disproven theory that the Earth is a flat disk and not an oblate sphere, claimed the stream was CGI.
The official Flat Earth Society Twitter page said today: “People who believe that the Earth is a globe because ‘they saw a car in space on the Internet’ must be the new incarnation of ‘It’s true, I saw it on TV!’
“It’s a poor argument. Why would we believe any privately-held company to report the truth?”
The group further agued the media were in on SpaceX’s agenda, helping out the rocket manufacturer with the alleged deception.
The society added in response to a challenger: “You shouldn’t trust us. You should evaluate claims independently. We’ve never advocated for anything else.”
Another Twitter user under the handle of Forever Flat, said: “For all of you, who watched the Falcon Heavy. Saw a car go to space, saw NO satellites, NO ISS, NO space debris, NO oblate spheroid, NO spinning Earth, NO escape velocity, NO speeds of 20kmph, NO stars, just stationary blackness.”
The Earth is round. I flew around it
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, entertained the Flat Earthers in a post-launch interview. Mr Musk joked the car looked too “weird, too crisp” to be real.
Mr Musk said: “You can tell it’s real because it looks so fake.
“It’s just literally a normal car in space, which I kind of like the absurdity of that.”
Those who watched the SpaceX feed saw the expensive electric car breathtakingly hang over the blue planet below, immediately disproving conspiracies the Earth is anything but a globe.
AFP
SpaceX launch: The Tesla Roadster flew over the planet on Wednesday
From its vantage point thousands of kilometres above the Earth, Mr Musk admitted watching the Roadster and its dummy Starman pilot in real time was a “surreal” experience.
You can watch the recorded SpaceX feed in full here: SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch live stream
But not everyone was convinced by the stream. Many truthers questioned the apparent lack of stars against vast expanse of space, while others pointed out the planet appeared to be stationary.
Twitter account Prof Brian Hoax tweeted: “Surely, you don’t need to be a flat Earth believer to recognise the fakery.
“Its not a flat Earth vs globe matter, its exposure of the fraud and mockery. This affects us all.”
Unfortunately the flat earth theory is supported by many prominent celebrities such as raper B.o.B., cricketer Freddie Flintoff and NBA star Kyrie Irving.
The same people believe NASA and other respected scientific bodies are perpetuating the “globe hoax” for their own ends.
B.o.B challenged NASA last year by pledging to send a satellite into space to settle the debate.
Thankfully the argument has long been put to rest by the countless hours of video footage, photos and astronaut trips to space.
REUTERS
SpaceX was criticised by conspiracists who think the Falco Heavy launch was faked
NASA astronaut Terry Virts publicly challenged B.oB. last year, when he tweeted: “I can save BoB a lot of money. The Earth is round. I flew around it.”
Mr Musk himself snapped over the topic earlier in December, rushing into a Twitter row over the Earth’s shape.
The South African billionaire tweeted: “If Earth is flat, does that mean other planets are as well?”
“Why is there no Flat Mars Society?”