Self-taught rocket scientist finally blasts off into California sky
"Mad" Mike Hughes, the rocket man who believes the Earth is flat, propelled himself about 1,875 feet into the air Saturday before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert. He told The Associated Press that outside of an aching back he's fine after the launch near Amboy, California.
"Relieved," he said after being checked out by paramedics. "I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket. I'm tired of that stuff. I manned up and did it."
The launch in the desert town — about 200 miles east of Los Angeles — was originally scheduled in November. It was scrubbed several times due to logistical issues with the Bureau of Land Management and mechanical problems that kept popping up.
Previously: Flat Earther Plans Manned Steam-Powered Rocket Launch
Federal Government Denies Permission for Flat Earth Researcher's Rocket Launch
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"Mad" Mike Hughes plans to ascend to 1800 feet in a $20,000 steam-powered rocket.
He has flown in rockets before, mostly successfully, but was injured by the acceleration.
Despite that he claims "science is science fiction", he used documented engineering formulas because they are known to work, despite that the science behind them is bogus.
It will be live-streamed on Hughes' YouTube channel, possibly also on Pay-Per-View.
According to Southern California Public Radio,
"Mad" Mike Hughes, limousine driver and self-proclaimed flat-Earther, announced that he had to delay his plan to launch himself 1,800 feet high in a rocket of his own making. The launch, which he has billed as a crucial first step toward ultimately photographing our disc-world from space, had been scheduled for Saturday — before the Bureau of Land Management got wind of the plan and barred him from using public land in Amboy, Calif.
Also, the rocket launcher he had built out of a used motor home "broke down in the driveway" on Wednesday, according to Hughes. He said in a YouTube announcement that they'd eventually gotten the launcher fixed — but the small matter of federal permission proved a more serious stumbling block (for now).
Related: Flat Earther Plans Manned Steam-Powered Rocket Launch.
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:22AM (1 child)
So, assuming he traveled vertically under power, did he land more or less at his launch point?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday March 26 2018, @08:30AM
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:23AM (4 children)
He proved us wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @03:07PM (3 children)
No, I'm pretty sure the Earth is still more towards the spheroid side of the spheroid/thin cylinder spectrum.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday March 26 2018, @05:59PM
Well, those of us who thought the rocket would kill him, if used, were proven wrong.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday March 26 2018, @06:15PM (1 child)
The flat earth model is locally useful for me, pretty much everywhere I go. I find it comes in handy when representing Earth's features on paper or a glass screen. I've heard that it's less and less accurate as scale of the represented area increases, but I really can't tell from personal experience, as I don't have paper maps big enough to show obvious errors, and there isn't enough detail on smaller large-scale maps to see errors there.
So I'm going with a locally flat earth, and would like to plug the Lambert Conformal projection to take best advantage of this.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 3, Funny) by legont on Tuesday March 27 2018, @12:46AM
Besides, it's clear from the video that the earth is concave.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:29AM (3 children)
Hell of a way to diverge attention of what you wanted to proof in the first place... this guy should go into some office for Trump!
Ehh... wait what? Why are we giving this guy so much attention?
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:58AM
Because he did something more interesting than you, you dolt.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Monday March 26 2018, @05:13PM (1 child)
"Hell of a way to diverge attention of what you wanted to proof in the first place... this guy should go into some office for Trump!"
He'd fit right in as NASA director. LOL
(Score: 1) by Captival on Monday March 26 2018, @07:29PM
How foolish. Everybody knows that the REAL job of a NASA Director is telling Muslims how great they are. That is prime directive #1.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:57AM (8 children)
He's launched himself further than Elon Musk ever has, and without sucking at Uncle Sam's golden teat.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @09:02AM
Of course, anybody who has bought a plane ticket has gotten higher than this guy just did. Ok, to be fair we don't know what he's been smoking.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @09:32AM (6 children)
You can log in, khallow, everyone knows it's you. Unless it is takyon. Or Mad Mike himself?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday March 26 2018, @10:30AM (2 children)
Fry FB FB. Fghjb
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by drussell on Monday March 26 2018, @02:44PM (1 child)
Hmmm...
Covfefe, is that you in there?!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @05:39PM
Covfefe is in my cupfefe.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 26 2018, @11:19AM (2 children)
The Universe is Flat. [wikipedia.org] Become a Flat Universer today.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday March 26 2018, @11:31AM (1 child)
Now a Flat Universe is an entirely different matter, one that escapes observational confirmation or nullification at the moment. We could, for all we know, actually be a two-dimensional simulation run in three- or four- dimensions. Or, not. Once we understand the Laniakea Supercluster, we should know more. But keep an eye out for the "Electric Universe" folks, the "Alt-redshift" people, or, most insidious of all, the Neo-geocentrists. Oh, and watch out for Planet Kolob. Nineteenth Century Scientology, I'm telling you!
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @05:10PM
I see your problem, you just have some weird desire to display your intellectual prowess all the time. Take a chill pill ya old fart!
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Monday March 26 2018, @09:25AM (2 children)
Anyone sad he didn't explode?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @09:27AM (1 child)
Darwin did not quite win this one... he's still carrying viable sperm.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 26 2018, @11:10AM
You know this because - you sampled some of his sperm? We really didn't need to know that.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday March 26 2018, @09:27AM
So, did he see the non-curvature of the earth, or see God or at least some angels? I mean, otherwise he is just back to driving a limo to Las Vegas, right? Data? Telemetry? Lessons for future crazy publicity seekers? Something, please!
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday March 26 2018, @09:30AM (3 children)
So 571 meters (or 1875 feet) is not exactly "into space", while there might not be an exact start and limit it sure is or would be a lot higher up then he came. If one uses the Karman line as a start of "outer space" and the end of our atmosphere it is 100km up from sea-level. Commercial jets cruise around at 9000m (~30000 feet). There are building on earth made by man that are taller then he went up -- he made it bit higher then the new world trade center building in NYC, by about 30 meters. He was still about 250 meters short of the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building.
So what exactly did he do again? Trying to get the bullies to be quiet? I somehow don't think that is going to work if you claim that the earth is flat.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Monday March 26 2018, @10:29AM
You see, those round-earthers always want to have it both ways by contradicting themselves in a single sentence. The tips of our shoes either bend up or down, that's something clear to talk about, and you know the answer.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 26 2018, @11:13AM (1 child)
But, isn't earth in space? So, technically, you can't do anything on earth without also doing it in space. We're all in space. Crap, just think about it! Some tenuous force called "gravity" is the only thing that keeps us all from floating off into space!
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Monday March 26 2018, @11:18AM
*from floating off into an adjacent space
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 26 2018, @09:31AM (5 children)
We abduct the leading proponents of this flat earth "theory", take them to the moon, make them do a space walk enroute, then walk around on the surface of the moon, while studying the earth through a telescope. Then, we haul their asses to Mars, same routine. Space walk, to ensure that they know they are no longer on earth, watching the earth revolve behind them, then walking around on Mars.
When they get back, will they STILL say that it's all an elaborate hoax? How 'bout we don't bring them back. They can just spend their lives on the flat Mars. I doubt that they carry any essential DNA or anything.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bart on Monday March 26 2018, @09:45AM (1 child)
COOL. Ok me me me. The earth is flat as a pancake, I know for sure, I've been to New Zealand and they didn't fall off. Can I now go to the moon :-)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 26 2018, @10:41AM
Sure. Mr. Musk will want a buck-two-eighty or so, have your money ready when you get to the gate.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday March 26 2018, @02:25PM
Well, this isn't threatening to those fine folks because they confidently believe that the very idea of "traveling" to "the moon" and "to mars" is a hoax itself, and even were it not a hoax outright, it would provide a vantage point from which to observe a flat earth with a cold, icy antarctica extending to infinity in all directions.
So, from their point of view (heads firmly ensconced within posterior anatomy features), yeah, they'd for sure say "See? I told you so!"
Let's suppose something else. Let's suppose the very idea that such a person as "Mike Hughes" actually exists is itself a vivid hoax, and that the story of this short vertical flight of madness is simply a further story spun by one of the people who work to sustain such a hoax.
That's much more likely than the flat-earth narrative, to put that into perspective.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday March 26 2018, @08:56PM (1 child)
Nah, they'll probably still insist that it's all occurring on some Hollywood studio, simulated with some kind of VR or some other garbage.
I'd say let them bring their own camera equipment, their own radio equipment, and as much high explosive as they want. Then tell them to go ahead and try to break out of the studio.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @03:51AM
Its flat. Let them walk back. They will be fine.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @10:33AM (5 children)
I don't understand why he's doing it, because I don't think he's getting any money for it.
And, as a citizen of the US, he can easily go over to Colorado Springs, take the train up to Pike's peak on a clear day, and he'll be much further up then with the stupid contraption, plus with a reasonable view of flat land available.
Not the full 5 km, because of the stupid high plateau, but I guess the difference is still a bit more than 3km.
or maybe he's actually that stupid... which I would say is the level where those paramedics should not have let him go free.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @11:34AM
Oh, come on now!
We are talking "flat earthers", not "young earthers"! Hard to see how a steam rocket could prove the world is only 6000 years old. You need a Bible and some serious insanity for that.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday March 26 2018, @12:37PM (2 children)
Yes, as a citizen of the US he couldn't possibly do anything at all unless he stood to profit from it financially in some way. We get the message: Capitalism.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @12:55PM (1 child)
Well, what about the burgeoning market for steampunk space exploration? Maybe we could get on-board analytical engines for calculating orbits!
The great steam age shall happen at last!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday March 26 2018, @01:18PM
Indeed :-) And analytical engines don't need any radiation hardening. Can you get one that implements the SPARC V8 instruction set?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by Captival on Monday March 26 2018, @07:31PM
If he was geniunely interested in solving his problem, a hundred dollars gets you a big balloon and a cheap GoPro knockoff camera. That seems way easier and much safer than trying to go up in a rocket. He clearly has no intention to do anything other than make publicity for himself.
(Score: 3, Informative) by deadstick on Monday March 26 2018, @12:17PM (3 children)
Is there nobody left alive who remembers the era of publicity stunts? You do something dangerous, you get in the papers, and you get a chance -- not a sure thing, but a chance -- at a commercial deal. It's just going over Niagara Falls in a 21st-century barrel. Surely someone remembers the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle from Ideal Toys.
This guy is no more a flat-earther than you and I are. He's a shrewd publicist who knows how to get dimwits to pay for, and/or publicize, his venture.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday March 26 2018, @01:44PM
I wonder what the toy market is like for steampunk mad scientist/engineer action figures ... Does he come with a kung-fu deathgrip?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday March 26 2018, @03:21PM
Yep, didn't the article even say there wasn't any good evidence the guy actually rode in the thing? The guy is a huckster, and didn't even allegedly believe in flat-eartherism until recently, because he was able to get a bunch of morons to send him money with this publicity stunt by claiming to be.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Monday March 26 2018, @06:46PM
"Is there nobody left alive who remembers the era of publicity stunts? You do something dangerous, you get in the papers, and you get a chance -- not a sure thing, but a chance -- at a commercial deal. "
There is a reason the era ended. Turned out getting in the papers for doing something dangerous is a less effective route to celebrity than going viral for doing something stupid on youtube.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @12:24PM (4 children)
OK, so some say Earth is a sphere, others say, Earth is flat.
I say, make a compromise: Earth is a flat sphere. ;-)
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday March 26 2018, @12:37PM (2 children)
Earth is an oblate spheroid with surface irregularities.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @05:02PM (1 child)
You all, even the Flat Earthers, are dreaming up to many dimensions and are all wrong. The Earth is a single point!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @05:19PM
No, no, it's a 3-sphere [wikipedia.org]. How else can you explain the simultaneous 4 day rotation [2enp.com]?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday March 26 2018, @01:39PM
So the earth is a circle? Is this discworld? Have someone checked the sex of the turtles yet?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by srobert on Monday March 26 2018, @05:19PM
Some "Flat Earthers" are just playin' with your head. Maybe most of them? They don't really believe it. They just find it fun to take a contrarian position and develop elaborate arguments to defend the flat earth theory. It's mostly tongue-in-cheek.
(Score: 2) by zafiro17 on Monday March 26 2018, @08:41PM
I wish the world would stop catering to this narcissistic douchenozzle's egotistic whims by quoting his nickname. He's not "mad" in any sense of the word's meaning (crazy). He's an attention whore and a stupid one at that. If you have to attribute him a nickname, can you please use "Moron"? "Moron" Mike Whatever has a much more accurate ring to it.
Condescending to base stupidity is a fool's errand. This guy isn't stupid. He's the extra-large version of every fucktard who decided to get a lot of views on Youtube to gratify his otherwise useless existence. He clearly believes in some science - the science that powers his stupid rocket, at least. He's being selective in his "beliefs" and the faster we all ignore him, the faster he'll go away.
The danger is Moron Mike. It's all the mini-Mikes out there that will imitate him. The USA has become a nation that takes offense to intelligence. It needs to be stopped. [for example, by convincing Moron Mike that gravity is a social construct, and coaxing him into disproving gravity by throwing himself down a well at terminal velocity onto a concrete surface. Now that's a video worth seeing.]
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey