People who believe the Earth is flat should be given a ride on a Blue Origin suborbital flight, so they can see the globe's curvature, a UAE space tourist has said.
Hamish Harding, who flew on a New Shepard flight on June 4, told The National that if there was a community effort to fund a flat-Earther’s ticket, he would contribute.
Despite scientific and technological advancement in the world, there is still a large population that believes that the Earth is flat, not a sphere, and that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax. These people have been popularly labelled as 'flat-Earthers'.
There are international societies dedicated to the belief, which run campaigns to convince others.
Hamish Harding's son
“I'd love to send the most committed flat-Earther in the world into space on what I’ve just done with Blue Origin and see what he thinks,” said Mr Harding, who is the chairman of Action Aviation, which provides aircraft brokerage services to business jet and helicopter owners.
“Because it’s pretty convincing up there. You can see the Earth is round. Looking out of the window was the best bit of this mission.”
The price of a New Shepard flight ticket has not been revealed by Blue Origin, although its competitor Virgin Galactic charges $450,000 per passenger.
A 2018 YouGov survey of 8,000 Americans showed that 2 per cent of the US population believes that the Earth is flat. Five per cent of the public that said they used to believe that the planet was round but were beginning to have doubts.
A survey of 2,000 adults by the Datafolha Institute in 2019 revealed that 7 per cent of Brazilians believe the planet is flat.
Last year, a Scottish man set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to send a flat-Earther on a Virgin Galactic flight.
He managed to raise £345 for his £250,000 goal, which is what the flight costed at the time. However, Virgin Galactic flights are not currently operational.
On Blue Origin, passengers experience five-minutes of weightlessness during the flight and can see the Earth’s delicate atmosphere from the capsule’s large windows.
Mr Harding said flat-Earthers could also experience the Overview Effect like he did, often described by astronauts as a powerful shift in how a person views the planet and life.
“You start to think about the world as a small place. You don't see country boundaries from space. The world should work a bit more together.
“It seems crazy that so much GDP is destroyed by so much conflict and political parties fighting each other.
“If you can look out in space, I think people will gradually begin to realise there's a lot more to be achieved for the human race by co-operation.”
‘Space tourists should be called astronauts’
Blue Origin has flown 26 people to the edge of space since 2021, including company owner Jeff Bezos and Star Trek actor William Shatner.
As the space tourism industry grows, there has been a debate around whether passengers should be called astronauts. Mr Harding believes they should earn that title.
“I think they should be called that because the definition of astronauts, rightly or wrongly, is anybody who's been above the Karman line, which is the 100 kilometre line above Earth,” he said.
“And anyone who has been above that line is defined by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) as being an astronaut.”
Mr Harding’s son might be next in space
Mr Harding said both of his sons, Rory, 17, and Giles, 14, are interested in going to space.
Rory will be turning 18 soon and will be eligible to ride on a space tourism flight.
When asked if Rory is next in line, Mr Harding said “watch this space”.
“I would absolutely be willing for both my sons, including Rory, who's turning 18 shortly, to go on the flight.”
Giles said he felt “proud but nervous” for his father, as the rocket launched him into space. The Dubai College pupil was present for the launch along with his mother and brother.
“There was pin-drop silence when the rocket was about to lift-off,” he said.
“Everyone was on edge and as he went as he went up there, it was kind of a surreal moment.
“You could see at the bottom of the rocket that there was massive amount of smoke.
“I was very excited, but also obviously very nervous.”
