[Avodah] Mabul

[Lampel]

>> >  <<"Down" means towards the centre of the earth. "Up" means away from it.
>> >  Thus all of the sky is above the land, not under it.>>
In agreement: In Moreh Nevuchim, the Rambam states both that the earth 
is a globe (1:73, in 10th Proposition), and (2:30) that when it says 
that Hashem created the "shamayim" and the "aretz,," it means those 
things that are above and those things that are below (ha-elyonim 
v'ha-tach'tonim).

Astronauts and astronomers also speak of "looking down at the earth."

Some examples:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/carey_retires_prt.htm
“It's a passion for me," he said. "Even while looking down from space, I 
would imagine moving across those green expanses on a motorcycle”— Space 
Shuttle pilot, Astronaut Duane G. "Digger" Carey, going back to his true 
love of motorcycling.

http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/NSVS~3~3~13899~113899:Looking-Down-at-the-Earth-from-Space

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/researchernews/rn_astrophotography.html
Joseph
“Although my job here at NASA Langely [Research Center] requires that I 
look down at the Earth’s atmosphere from space, I never stopped looking 
up at space from down here on earth” (Jospeh Zawdony, senior research 
scientist, Langely Research Center).

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast07aug_1/

http://www.archive.org/details/SVS-2630 “Looking Down at the Earth’s 
Ocean Floor from Space.”