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Multiple Soylentils have written in to let us know about the death of Mike Hughes:
"Mad" Mike Hughes Dies in Rocket Crash
Michael 'Mad Mike' Hughes, staunch flat Earth conspiracy theorist, launched himself into the skies above Barstow in San Bernardino county Saturday, February 22nd.
He was attempting to reach an altitude of ~5000 feet (1,500 meters). Unfortunately his parachute did not open during descent causing him to plummet to his death.
This wasn't Hughes' first rodeo, as the self-taught engineer had made two other attempts, the latest of which was supposed to launch in August 2019. That attempt was grounded by bad weather. Before that, the rocketeer had a successful (albeit bumpy) launch in March 2018, when his homemade rocket reached 1,875 feet (572 m) in altitude over Amboy, California. During that launch, Hughes had to deploy two parachutes to save himself from smashing into the desert. Even so he plummeted back to Earth at 350 mph (563 km/h). He got out of that one with just a sore back, he said at the time.
This launch was only a stepping stone to the eventual goal to proving the Earth was flat.
Would flat-Earth-believer Hughes have been able to see our planet's sphere at 5,000 feet (1,524 m)? Nope. And he knew that, saying he would need to soar past the so-called Kármán line — where the sky ends and space begins, or roughly 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth — to see the curvature with his own eyes.
Two other amateur rocket teams are also attempting to reach the 100 KM point.
DAREDEVIL 'MAD' MIKE HUGHES DEAD AT 64 ... Fatal Rocket Crash Landing
TMZ, though probably at many other venues shortly., I, for one, offer prayers for Mad Mike, and may Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthys judge him with mercy.
'Mad' Mike Hughes is believed to possibly be dead after launching himself in the air with a self-made rocket that crash-landed -- and it was captured on camera.
The well-known daredevil and amateur rocket-engineer was doing a rocket launch Saturday in what appears to be near Barstow, CA -- where a reporter says Mike propelled himself into the air with a "self-made steam-powered rocket" and then crash-landed into the ground.
Not confirmed? Does not matter whether the earth be flat, or just a very large sphere, when you slam into it at speed.
Much more tragic, Mike seemed pretty stoked for the launch this weekend. He posted a video describing his rocket, where it would go down and what he was aiming to achieve. BTW, he was a big flat-earth believer -- and a doc was even made about him trying to prove it.
We've reached out to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Dept. for comment ... so far, no word back. However, we were told by a dispatcher at the Victor Valley Sheriff's Station that a call for service had been placed Saturday out of Barstow -- the nature of which is unclear.
Flat Earther 'Mad' Mike Hughes died when his homemade rocket crashed
Daredevil "Mad" Mike Hughes died Saturday when a homemade rocket he was attached to launched but quickly dove to earth in the California desert.
The stunt was apparently part of a forthcoming television show, "Homemade Astronauts," that was scheduled to debut later this year on Discovery Inc.'s Science Channel. Discovery confirmed the 64-year-old's death in a statement.
"It was always his dream to do this launch, and Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey," the company said.
Also at
LA Times, Space, NBC News, and CNN
Previous Coverage:
Flat Earther Manages to Travel One Third of a Mile Into the Sky Using a Steam-Powered Rocket (Takyon)
Federal Government Denies Permission for Flat Earth Researcher's Rocket Launch (Anonymous Coward)
Flat Earther Plans Manned Steam-Powered Rocket Launch (MichaelDavidCrawford)
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @07:04AM (12 children)
He died because of what he believed in, which was wrong. He did not die "for" anything, since his death contributes nothing to anything he believed. In Nam, if you were KIA, we called you "wasted", having died for nothing.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:18AM (7 children)
One could well have ended up saying the same of the Wright Brothers had their early experiments with flight ended in tragedy (as many before had). And indeed there would have been people mocking such a tragedy, for what sort of fool would think humans could fly like the birds? Let alone when those fools were just bike boys anyhow - not a lick of formal scientific training between the two of them.
I think we should appreciate the dogged and *real* pursuit of scientific work - regardless of whether what was being pursued panned out or not. If he genuinely felt the Earth was flat, he could have spent his years goofing off in the special olympics that is internet "debate." Instead he tried to personally test his views and gain evidence, one way or the other. I suspect that evidence does not exist, because his view was wrong - but that is completely irrelevant. A human willing to go through extensive effort and risk his life to verify his beliefs, in a way where he stands to hurt nobody except himself, is something remarkable.
Reminds me of the comments when there was footage [youtube.com] shared of some guy in the Congo developing 'chukudus' - basically a wooden bike. Wow, amazing. No, but it really is. It's always this sort of attitude of creating things and testing things that has helped humanity constantly evolve. Whether it's a good idea or not, old or new, is irrelevant. The whole point is take 8 billion people. Imagine we were all pursuing our own ideas, can you even begin to think of how absurdly fast the human species would be developing and evolving? That's exactly how we got from being glorified apes to where we are today in such a markedly short period of time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @09:43AM (6 children)
The Wright Brothers were dealing with an engineering problem within the scope of known science.
Mike Hughes was trying to disprove settled science.
If he was the first person trying to build a rocket, then his death would have had meaning, but that problem was settled almost a century ago as well.
He was just a guy with a particularly dangerous hobby who managed to get himself killed doing it.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 24 2020, @01:22PM (5 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:14PM
because they all knew that birds were lighter than air...?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @03:05PM (3 children)
What again does that have to do with the present story? Did someone die trying to prove that heavier than air flight was impossible?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @04:00PM (1 child)
after aircraft had been around for a long time
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 24 2020, @04:03PM
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday February 24 2020, @05:19PM
Read for comprehension next time, please.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 24 2020, @03:17PM (1 child)
Well, it wasn't his belief in a flat earth that killed him; it was his belief that one could ride a steam powered rocket built a garage that killed him.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @05:10PM
Or more specifically, his belief that he got the engineering right on the parachutes. He had no problems riding the rocket up, it was the parachute failure that ultimately killed him.
As far as the flat earth stuff goes, he was just using that as a fundraising effort. He didn't actually believe that the Earth is flat.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by RS3 on Monday February 24 2020, @05:20PM (1 child)
Hopefully someone can learn from Mike's death and use that knowledge for good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @05:53AM
If there's anything to learn, it's that being an Internet celeb is just as empty and sad as it sounds on the Internet.