While some flat-earth believers are still trying to stage their own experiments to prove that the Earth is flat, a Russian cosmonaut says he can only laugh at such people, since this idea is nothing more than a “massive space trolling.”

In an interview with the Sputnik News, Sergey Ryazansky, a Russian cosmonaut who has visited the International Space Station (ISS) twice, said the concept of “flat earth” is all about provoking others, especially on social media, and then waiting for some comments from people, including scientist and astronauts.

“I personally take the flat earth theory as a perfect massive space trolling, nothing more,” Ryazansky said.

“There’s nothing serious behind it. This is just about playing a trick, waiting for what will come next, whether this or that cosmonaut will respond.”

Ryazansky said he avoids involving himself on such discussions on social media, as it would be a complete wastage of his precious time to explain the basic concepts of science to such people.

The Flat Earth Society was founded by Samuel Shenton in 1956 to promote the idea that the Earth is actually flat rather than a spheroid, as claimed by the scientists. The Society’s latest planet model proposes that we humans live on a flat disc, which has the North Pole at its center and a 45-meter-high ice wall in Antarctica at the outer edge. The model suggests that the icy wall in Antarctica serves as a barrier to prevent humans from walking off the edge of the Earth.

While there is so much scientific evidence to prove that earth is round, the flat-earth advocates prefer not to believe in such evidence. Surprisingly, a huge increase in the popularity of the flat-earth theory has been noticed in recent years. The number of people searching “flat earth theory” on Google has almost tripled in the past three years. Even some famous personalities—such as Andrew Freddie Flintoff (former England cricket player) and Kyrie Irving (American basketball player)—have come forward to support the idea.

Ryanzansky thinks the problem actually lies in our educational system. The cosmonaut says it is disappointing to see that such theories are also getting some support in countries like Russia.

Sergey Ryazansky has visited the ISS twice so far, according to SpaceFlight101. On this first spaceflight, he was launched to the ISS on board the Soyuz spacecraft in 2013. He performed three extravehicular activities during this mission before returning to Earth in March 2014. His second space mission had a duration of 139 days. This mission started on 28 July 2017 and ended with Ryazansky’s safe return to Earth on December 14, 2017.