Flat Earth scientist injured when home-made rocket crash landed
Rocket scientist and Flat Earth believer , “Mad” Mike Hughes, reached an altitude of 570 metres in his home made rocket before crash landing in the Mojave desert.
– I’m relieved, says Hughes after being checked by healthcare professionals. He escaped the crash with only minor injuries.
The launch took place on Saturday, near the desert town of Amboy in the Mojave Desert, just east of Los Angeles. A number of technical issues caused the launch to be postponed from November. The 61-year-old, who sustains himself as a limousine driver, modified a mobile home into a launch ramp and built the rocket in his garage.
1-2-3, Go!
Without even a preceding countdown, he lifted off in the rocket. His assistant, Waldo Stakes, estimates the rocket speed to 563 kilometres an hour when Hughes deployed the main parachute . He reached a height of 570 metres before plummeting back towards mother Earth.
Hughes dropped too fast, and therefore deployed a seccond parachute. He nevertheless landed with a loud bang. The front of the rocket was split in two.
– Am I happy to have done this? Yes, I believe so. I’ll probably notice it tomorrow when I can not get out of my bed. But at least I can go home now, enjoy my dinner, and spend time with my cats, he says.
Hughes had been called mad both for building the rocket and claiming that the earth is flat. The latter is by the way claimed by a significant number of Americans, the Bible and the Koran as well. Hughes had beforehand loudly announced that the aim of the project was to prove that the Earth is flat, Tellus almost turned the table on him.
He did not get an answer to that, he is therefore planning to build another rocket, or “Rockoon” as he dubs them, which supposedly will transport him 110 kilometres upwards. The next launch is scheduled for August, 2018.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
