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Flat Earth Manned Space Mission Begins in Homemade Rocket, Ends Seconds Later

Operation “Proof the Earth is flat” is in full swing. A huge milestone was achieved thanks to Mad Mike Hughes this weekend, as he managed to get a respectable distance off the ground and then crash-land.
Mike Hughes taking off from an improvised launch pad 1 photo
Photo: Youtube screenshot/ softypapa
As you might remember, the 61-year old tried to achieve a similar feat in the wake of Falcon Heavy’s launch in February, but his attempt was hindered by the Governor, the Tax Board, all the legal department for the Tax Board, and the attorney general, and senator Kamala Harris, all from California.

Then, on his second attempt, a malfunctioning O-ring prevented him from taking off at 500 mph and revealing to the world people live on a pancake, and not on a ball.

Some 320 kilometers east of Los Angeles (200 miles), Hughes managed to get himself airborne this weekend, after getting permission from a private citizen to use his land as launch-landing pad.

Amazingly, the garage-built, DIY-rocket performed pretty much as designed. It propelled the flat-earther to over 570 meters in the air (1,870 feet), and then came back down. According to the wannabe space-man, the rocket traveled at speeds of some 560 km/h (348 mph) before gravity overcame it and started dragging it back down.

And that was the biggest problem, apparently. As the rocket descended too fast, Hughes had to pull not one, but two parachutes in order to shed some speed. Even so, the impact was enough to make quite an impression.

"This thing wants to kill you ten different ways," said Hughes according to ABC News. "This thing will kill you in a heartbeat.”

But the hard landing didn’t kill him, so perhaps that’s not the last we get to hear about the man-who-believes-the-Earth-is-flat-and-wants-to-prove-it.

After all, despite the successful launch, Hughes didn’t get high enough to see for himself the flatness of the world we live in.

Video of the otherwise impressive achievement below.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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