In 2014, the Christian rock band Remedy Drive released the album “Commodity”. Its cover image is a small hole from NASA’s Solar Max Satellite that was caused by space debris. NASA first published the original photos in 2006.
In 2018, astronaut Chris Hadfield showed the picture to illustrate how space debris can do to a spacecraft. Flat-Earthers were happy to accuse Hadfield of stealing the cover image from the “Commodity” album. They were simply looking for any reason do discredit space flight and did not realize NASA published the image first before anyone else, including Remedy Drive.
Timeline:
- 1984: The photo was taken.
- 2006: The photo was first published by NASA.
- 2006: The photo was uploaded to Wikipedia.
- 2014: Remedy Drive released “Commodity” using the photo as the album’s artwork.
- 2018: Chris Hadfield tweeted the original photo, but misinterpreted by flat-Earthers as stolen from the album “Commodity”.
Chris Hadfield’s Tweet
When your spaceship suddenly starts leaking air, you fix the hole with duct tape & a gob of epoxy. Nice save, @Space_Station crew! https://t.co/1Va8idShJw pic.twitter.com/pxSJY6eNhc
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) August 30, 2018
That's a typical orbital debris/micrometeorite hole, from the Solar Max satellite. We learn from every one, including how to then shield the Space Station better. https://t.co/irN0DIkKZY https://t.co/O6wT2pUUqj
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) September 2, 2018
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) September 3, 2018
References
- Chris Hadfield’s tweet
- ARES: Orbital Debris Program Office Photo Gallery
- File:SMM panel hole.jpg – Wikipedia Commons
- Remedy Drive – Wikipedia
- Commodity (album) – Wikipedia