Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Self-taught rocket man soars
Rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes propelled himself about 1,875 feet up before landing in the Mojave Desert.
LOS ANGELES — He finally went up — just like the self-taught rocket scientist always pledged he would.
He came back down in one piece, too — a little dinged up and his steampowered vessel a little cracked up.
Still, mission accomplished for a guy more daredevil than engineer, who drew more comparisons to the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote from his critics than he did to iconic stunt man Evel Knievel.
“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, Calif.
“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 was originally scheduled in November. It was scrubbed several times due to logistical issues with the Bureau of Land Management and repeated mechanical problems.
The 61-year-old limo driver converted a mobile home into a ramp and modified it to launch from a vertical angle so he wouldn’t fall back to the ground on public land. For months he overhauled his rocket in his garage.
It looked like Saturday might add to the string of cancellations, given that the wind was blowing and his rocket was losing steam.
But sometime after 3 p.m. PDT, and without a countdown, Hughes’ rocket soared into the sky.
Hughes reached a speed that Waldo Stakes, who’s been helping Hughes with his endeavor, estimated to be around 350 mph before pulling his parachute. Hughes was dropping too fast, though, and he had to deploy a second one. He landed with a thud and the rocket’s nose broke in two places as planned.
“Am I glad I did it? Yeah. I guess,” Hughes said. “I’ll feel it in the morning. I won’t be able to get out of bed. At least I can go home and have dinner and see my cats tonight.”
He got permission to launch on the land owned by Albert Okura, who bought Amboy in 2005 for $435,000. Okura was in attendance and said the event lasted about three to four minutes. The rocket landed about 1,500 feet from the launch ramp, Stakes said.
“Mike branded us as ‘Rocket Town,’ ” Okura said. “It was amazing.”
This has been quite an undertaking for Hughes, who lives in Apple Valley, Calif. He’s seen a flurry of reaction to his plans, with detractors labeling him a crackpot for planning the launch in a homemade contraption and his belief that the world is flat.
Hughes often sparred with his critics on social media leading up to the launch, through Facebook comments and a 12-minute video addressed to his doubters.
“Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is,” he said. “Do I know for sure? No. That’s why I want to go up in space.”
That’s his project for down the road.
He wants to build a “Rockoon,” a rocket that is carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, then separated from the balloon and lit. This rocket would take Hughes about 68 miles up.
Hughes claims that this was the second time he constructed and launched a rocket. He said he jumped on a private property in Winkelman, Ariz., on Jan. 30, 2014, and traveled 1,374 feet. But there wasn’t any footage of him climbing into the craft, leading some to question whether he even took off.
“My story really is incredible,” Hughes said. “It’s got a bunch of story lines — the garage-built thing. I’m an older guy. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, plus the Flat Earth.”
His future plans: Fill out the paperwork to run for governor.
“This is no joke,” Hughes said. “I want to do it.”