Internet declares flat Earth debate over after SpaceX livestreams Crew Dragon rocket launch

Flat Earthers are doubling down on their beliefs in the face of a livestream of a SpaceX rocket launch appearing to provide irrefutable proof the planet is round.

Elon Musk's SpaceX took two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) over the weekend - the first time the journey has been undertaken on a spacecraft made by a commercial company, rather than a government agency.

It's the first manned space launch into orbit from US soil since 2011, when the country's shuttle programme ended - and the entire thing was made available to watch on an online livestream.

Footage watched by 10 million people showed the Crew Dragon spacecraft lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and moments later entering orbit. It's at this point that the distinctive curvature of the Earth is plain for all to see.

Internet declares flat Earth debate over after SpaceX livestreams Crew Dragon rocket launch
Photo credit: NASA/SpaceX

Many internet users pounced at the opportunity the footage presented to ridicule Flat Earthers.

"Hey #FlatEarth, we just launched two Americans into space completely live, with tons of live footage. Absolutely no way it could have been fake. Suck it, flerfs," wrote Twitter user @USMCNoggin.

"Flat earthers must be so confused right now," added @bringsnacks__.

Thousands of others joined the chorus of mockery with a variety of memes.

But staunch Flat Earthers have dug their heels in, claiming the footage is a "laughable hoax" staged in a studio by NASA.

"Yes of course it is they are all in the NASA studio where they can play this hoax out!" @TheBigBear9 wrote. "Like super mouse can survive with a rocket launch, able to scurry on a rocket in space! Come on with this laughable hoax!"

@TheReasonableG2 agreed, asking where it was filmed and comparing it to director Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"Let me guess this was in a silo somewhere in the Midwest? Possibly Arizona? Or New Mexico you filmed this hoax? 60 years later you don’t hold a candle to what Kubrick did."

Another wrote: "Hidden in PLANE sight (sic)! People are still indoctrinated by their Rockefeller Foundation created curriculums. Why do they teach children about space? So you don't' question it as an adult! Common sense. The Earth is flat."

While there are variations on the theory, most Flat Earthers believe the world is flat and the sun moves in circles around the North Pole to create day and night.

They also believe we live on a stationary land mass with a dome over top, and that the sun, moon and stars and everything that we see in the sky is contained inside.