Fact check: Astronauts train in vacuum chambers to prepare for life in space
The claim: Space is a hoax because astronauts don't train in vacuum chambers
Some proponents of Flat Earth theory – the erroneous idea that Earth is flat instead of a globe – also believe that space is an illusion or a hoax.
A meme currently circulating on social media and promoting this unfounded idea reads: "If outer space was a vacuum, astronauts would train in vacuum chambers, not in swimming pools."
The meme is captioned "Outer Space is a hoax" in an Oct. 25 Instagram post that garnered more than 1,000 likes in a month.
But the post is wrong, citing incorrect evidence and reaching an incorrect conclusion.
While the space between planets and stars is not a perfect vacuum – even the most empty parts still have some particles – astronauts still use vacuum chambers to prepare for the pressure changes that occur when they are exposed to space. There's ample evidence from both space travel and observations that outer space exists.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment.
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Astronauts train in both vacuum chambers and pools
Contrary to the claim made in the meme, astronauts train in both pools and vacuum chambers to prepare for different elements of life in space, NASA spokesperson Daniel Huot told USA TODAY in an email.
"Astronauts are only exposed to vacuum on spacewalks," he said. "Astronauts will participate in suit tests in smaller vacuum chambers to get acquainted with the pressure changes that happen ... but there is limited to no value in putting them in vacuum chambers for extended tests."
In addition to training, vacuum chambers are also used to test "materials, spacesuits (and) spacecraft in a vacuum environment here on Earth because a lot of important processes change (in the vacuum of space) – processes like heat transfer or how things get warmer or colder," Huot said.
On the other hand, astronauts train in pools to prepare them for microgravity – the perceived experience of weightlessness or floating that occurs on the International Space Station.
"Astronauts train in a large pool using specially weighted spacesuits as that is the best way to simulate ... microgravity," Huot said. "Aside from experiencing the pressure differential that they’re subject to when inside the large spacesuit, there is no training that could be done in the limited space of a vacuum chamber that would be more effective than training while neutrally buoyant to simulate microgravity in the pool."
A video of an astronaut training in a vacuum chamber is available on the NASA Johnson Space Center YouTube channel.
The meme was also debunked by Politifact.
Ample evidence space is real and an (imperfect) vacuum
Even before the advent of space flight, there was evidence that space is a vacuum, Erik Conway, the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab historian, told USA TODAY in an email.
Johannes Kepler, a 17th-century mathematician who proposed a set of physical laws that govern planetary orbits, noticed that the movement of planets and moons only made sense in the low-friction environment of a vacuum.
"If there were significant drag or friction in space, the planets would gradually spiral in towards the Sun as their orbital energy is dissipated by drag," he said. "But they don’t. The idea of a frictionless space was key to Kepler’s orbital mechanics, which we also use for spacecraft navigation."
Allen Farrington, project manager for NASA's SPHEREx mission, also told USA TODAY that if planets were encountering significant matter in their orbits, the leading side of the planet should heat up due to the friction.
"With ground-based instruments, we would see the leading side of the planets being warmer than the trailing side," he said in an email.
But this is not what is observed.
Evidence that space and space travel are real includes photos of space and people in space, the development of a space tourism industry and physical samples retrieved from Earth's moon.
USA TODAY has previously debunked other social media posts that claim to provide evidence that various space missions were fabricated.
For instance, some social media users erroneously claimed that a mismatch between the soles of Apollo astronauts' boots and the tread in a famous moon footprint photo is evidence that the Apollo moon missions were faked. However, the footprint left on the moon was made by a lunar overshoe that helped redistribute the astronauts' weight and protect them from radiation.
Fact check: False claim that video shows NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg in front of green screen
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim space is a hoax because astronauts don't train in vacuum chambers. NASA astronauts train in both pools and vacuum chambers to prepare for life in space, according to a NASA spokesperson. Further, there is ample evidence from both earthbound observation and space missions that space is real and a vacuum.
Our fact-check sources:
Daniel Huot, Nov. 2, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Erik Conway, Nov. 22, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Allen Farrington, Nov. 22, Email exchange with USA TODAY
John Richardson, Nov. 23, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Marshall Bautz, Nov. 22, Email exchange with USA TODAY
European Space Agency Kids, Sept. 14, 2010, What is space?
BBC Science Focus, accessed Nov. 2, Is space a perfect vacuum?
NASA Johnson, March 13, 2017, Spacesuit training in a vacuum chamber at NASA Johnson (360 View) (YouTube)
Politifact, Nov. 1, Outer space is not a ‘hoax’ as Instagram post claims
Scientific American, March 27, 2020, Flat Earthers: What They Believe and Why
NASA, Feb. 15, 2012, What is microgravity?
NASA, June 28, 2017, JSC - Space Station Airlock Vacuum Chamber
NASA, May 19, 2015, Journey to Space in a Vacuum Chamber
USA TODAY, Sept. 17, 2021, Fact check: Moon landing conspiracy theory misrepresents lunar footprint
National Gallery of Art, accessed Nov. 11, Buzz Aldrin's Footprint, July 20, 1969
NASA, accessed Nov. 22, Lunar rocks and soils from Apollo missions
NASA, accessed Nov. 22, First images from James Webb Space Telescope
USA TODAY, Feb. 15, How much is a seat on Virgin Galactic? $450,000. Here's what each trip includes
Space.com, Feb. 6, 2020, In pictures: The most memorable spacewalks in history
NASA, June 26, 2008, Orbits and Kepler's laws
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Astronauts train in vacuum to prepare for space