Flat-Earther To See For Himself!
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 11:19 pm
A flat-Earth enthusiast who claims not to believe in science plans to launch
himself 1,800 feet (550 meters) above California's Mojave Desert in a homemade
steam rocket on Saturday (Nov. 25). The daredevil, 61-year-old limo driver
"Mad" Mike Hughes, built the rocket and its launch ramp himself for about
$20,000, according to the AP. If all goes according to plan, the contraption
will accelerate to a top speed of 500 mph (800 km/h) and travel about 1 mile
(1.6 kilometers) away from the launch site, a ghost town called Amboy. (Hughes
will make a parachute-aided touchdown.) Hughes buys into the flat-Earth
conspiracy theory, according to the AP; indeed, the rocket's chief sponsor
is a group called Research Flat Earth. Saturday's liftoff won't get Hughes
nearly high enough to gather any photographic evidence about our planet's
shape — which is an oblate spheroid, by the way — but such a mission may be
in Mad Mike's future. He and a collaborator have discussed building a
"rockoon" — a rocket that launches after being carried aloft by a balloon —
that could get up to an altitude of 68 miles (109 km), the AP reported.
https://www.space.com/38869-flat-earthe ... aunch.html
himself 1,800 feet (550 meters) above California's Mojave Desert in a homemade
steam rocket on Saturday (Nov. 25). The daredevil, 61-year-old limo driver
"Mad" Mike Hughes, built the rocket and its launch ramp himself for about
$20,000, according to the AP. If all goes according to plan, the contraption
will accelerate to a top speed of 500 mph (800 km/h) and travel about 1 mile
(1.6 kilometers) away from the launch site, a ghost town called Amboy. (Hughes
will make a parachute-aided touchdown.) Hughes buys into the flat-Earth
conspiracy theory, according to the AP; indeed, the rocket's chief sponsor
is a group called Research Flat Earth. Saturday's liftoff won't get Hughes
nearly high enough to gather any photographic evidence about our planet's
shape — which is an oblate spheroid, by the way — but such a mission may be
in Mad Mike's future. He and a collaborator have discussed building a
"rockoon" — a rocket that launches after being carried aloft by a balloon —
that could get up to an altitude of 68 miles (109 km), the AP reported.
- Away We Go!
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