The Earth is flat. 3 videos debunking the claim
A post on X asks where the space at 38,000 km is, and another user replies with a SpaceX rocket launch. Why the argument doesn't hold up.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The distance of 38,000 kilometers is what separates the Earth from the Moon, not a boundary of space. A rocket that passes the atmosphere and orbits proves that the Earth is spherical.
The debate over the shape of the Earth resurfaces every so often, and this time the trigger is a post on X asking, laughingly, where this so-called "space at 38,000 kilometers" is. The figure is no coincidence: it is the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, about **384,400 kilometers** according to NASA. Anyone using it as proof of an alleged lie is confusing two different things: the altitude at which space begins, around **100 kilometers** above sea level, and the distance to our satellite.
## What the 38,000-kilometer figure actually means
The Kármán line, internationally accepted as the start of outer space, lies at an altitude of **100 kilometers**. That is where conventional aviation can no longer sustain itself. The International Space Station orbits at about **400 kilometers**, and geostationary satellites at **35,786 kilometers**. That last figure is close to the one in the tweet, and perhaps that's where the confusion comes from.
The distance to the Moon has been measured with lasers since 1969, when Apollo 11 left reflectors on its surface. Today any observatory can verify it. You don't have to take anyone's word for it: the data is confirmed by light that bounces back and returns.
## A rocket that takes off and comes back
The reply to the original post came with another tweet: a **SpaceX** rocket in the middle of launch, with the comment that this is proof the Earth is not flat. **Elon Musk's** company launches reusable rockets that go up, separate and land on their own. If the Earth were a disk, orbital trajectories and reentry calculations wouldn't add up.
Commercial flights disprove it too. A plane flying east doesn't arrive sooner because the atmosphere rotates with the planet. It's basic physics, not a conspiracy. The Earth rotates at about **1,600 kilometers per hour** at the equator, and everything within that atmosphere travels with it.
## Why these posts go viral
A short tweet, with a rhetorical question and an image, spreads faster than a three-paragraph explanation. That doesn't make it true. The Earth is an oblate spheroid, slightly flattened at the poles, and that has been known since ancient Greece. **Eratosthenes** calculated its circumference in the 3rd century BC with shadows and sticks.
None of this is a matter of opinion. If someone tells you that space at 38,000 kilometers doesn't exist, ask them where the Moon is. It's still there, at **384,400 kilometers**, and visible to the naked eye on almost any night.
The debate over the shape of the Earth resurfaces every so often, and this time the trigger is a post on X asking, laughingly, where this so-called "space at 38,000 kilometers" is. The figure is no coincidence: it is the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, about **384,400 kilometers** according to NASA. Anyone using it as proof of an alleged lie is confusing two different things: the altitude at which space begins, around **100 kilometers** above sea level, and the distance to our satellite.
## What the 38,000-kilometer figure actually means
The Kármán line, internationally accepted as the start of outer space, lies at an altitude of **100 kilometers**. That is where conventional aviation can no longer sustain itself. The International Space Station orbits at about **400 kilometers**, and geostationary satellites at **35,786 kilometers**. That last figure is close to the one in the tweet, and perhaps that's where the confusion comes from.
The distance to the Moon has been measured with lasers since 1969, when Apollo 11 left reflectors on its surface. Today any observatory can verify it. You don't have to take anyone's word for it: the data is confirmed by light that bounces back and returns.
## A rocket that takes off and comes back
The reply to the original post came with another tweet: a **SpaceX** rocket in the middle of launch, with the comment that this is proof the Earth is not flat. **Elon Musk's** company launches reusable rockets that go up, separate and land on their own. If the Earth were a disk, orbital trajectories and reentry calculations wouldn't add up.
Commercial flights disprove it too. A plane flying east doesn't arrive sooner because the atmosphere rotates with the planet. It's basic physics, not a conspiracy. The Earth rotates at about **1,600 kilometers per hour** at the equator, and everything within that atmosphere travels with it.
## Why these posts go viral
A short tweet, with a rhetorical question and an image, spreads faster than a three-paragraph explanation. That doesn't make it true. The Earth is an oblate spheroid, slightly flattened at the poles, and that has been known since ancient Greece. **Eratosthenes** calculated its circumference in the 3rd century BC with shadows and sticks.
None of this is a matter of opinion. If someone tells you that space at 38,000 kilometers doesn't exist, ask them where the Moon is. It's still there, at **384,400 kilometers**, and visible to the naked eye on almost any night.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (0 replies).
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