First Ever 360 Degree Video Of ISS Astronaut's Spacewalk Demolishes Flat-Earth Theory

A video — of the first-ever 360-degree footage shot manually in outer space — has been released by Russia Today in a bid to put an end to the recent ‘Earth is flat’ conspiracies.

The brilliant footage, shot in August, depicts the perspective of two Russian cosmonauts performing maintenance work and launching two nano satellites from outside the International Space Station (ISS). It shows the curvature of the Earth as seen from the space in an interactive panoramic point-of-view.

The extravehicular activity (EVA) near the ISS has been filmed for the first time using a 360 degree camera. The new photography format, which is gradually increasing in popularity, is seen as an extension of virtual reality into normal high-definition film-making. The video, released Wednesday, also shows two members of the Russian team launching five miniature satellites. The whole mission lasted seven and a half hours.

Sergey Ryazansky and Fedor Yurchikhin, the two cosmonauts seen in the video, captured their mission where you can clearly see the solar panels of the ISS. The video released in collaboration with Russia Today has drawn a very mixed response from people after an official screening in Moscow, and not everyone seems to be convinced.

The recent ‘Earth is flat’ conspiracy gained momentum because of celebrities like BoB launching kickstarter campaigns to prove that Earth is not spherical in shape. This goes against every known photo and data available on our planet. The same group is trying very hard to discredit this simple but breathtaking view of Earth where you can scroll from one side of the curve to the other side.

The flat-earth conspirators choose to ignore many red flags in their claims. The fact that we have days and nights is proof enough for most people, according to a Gizmodo article. If the Earth is flat, a huge ball of gases like the sun would be able to illuminate every corner at the same time. It is simple physics. The nights on Earth can be explained only if we assume the planet is spherical. When one side receives sunlight, the other side is plunged into darkness and this cannot be explained if Earth was flat.

Looking at the boats sail into the horizon is another proof that Earth is at least curved. They will eventually go under the horizon as they travel away. Greek astronomer Ptolemy, who gave an early geocentric planetary model with Earth at the center of the solar system, noticed this around 2,000 years ago, the same report suggested.

The video offers a unique view for people, who are not lucky enough to view earth from the ISS. The 360-degree view can keep you rolling your cursor for hours looking at the marvel of our blue-planet in high definition.

The astronauts can be seen throwing a pair of Tanyusha nanosatellites, as well as a round Sputnik-like TS530-Zerkalo assigned to study and collect data from the low Earth orbit.

According to a report by Russia Today, Tanyusha satellites were created by students from the Russian city of Kursk. Energia, the spacecraft producer collaborated with students to put these satellites in space. The Tomsk-TPU 120 satellite also can be seen in the video. It was created in the Siberian city of Tomsk. The satellites, broadcasting messages in multiple languages, can be heard all across Earth.