Flat-Earther rocket man’s flight plan hits a speed bump
LOS ANGELES A California man who planned to launch himself 550 metres high today in a homemade scrap-metal rocket – in an effort to ‘‘prove’’ that Earth is flat – has postponed the experiment after he failed to get permission from a United States federal agency to do so on public land.
Instead, Mike Hughes says the launch will take place some time next week on private property, albeit still in Amboy, California, a community in the Mojave Desert along historic Route 66.
‘‘It’s still happening. We’re just moving it three miles down the road,’’ Hughes said yesterday. ‘‘This is what happens any time you have to deal with any kind of government agency.’’
Hughes claimed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said he couldn’t launch his rocket as planned. He claimed the agency had given him verbal permission more than a year ago, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Representatives from both agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hughes said he had originally intended to arrive in Amboy on MADMIKEHUGHES.COM Thursday to start setting up the rocket. The BLM’s denial, along with some technical difficulties – a motor in his modified motorhome quit working for a day – threw a wrench into his plans, he said.
‘‘I don’t see [the launch] happening until about Tuesday, honestly.
‘‘It takes three days to set up ... You know, it’s not easy because it’s not supposed to be easy.’’
Assuming the 800kmh, 1600-metre flight does not kill him, his journey will mark the first phase of his ambitious flat-Earth space programme.
Hughes’s ultimate goal is a subsequent launch far above Earth, where the 61-year-old limousine driver hopes to photograph proof of what he says is the disc we all live on.
Hughes held a fundraising interview with a flat-Earth group for the flight.
Theories discussed during the interview included Nasa being controlled by round-Earth Freemasons, and Tesla founder Elon Musk making fake rockets from blimps.
Hughes has promised the flatEarth community that he will expose the conspiracy with his steam-powered rocket, which will launch from the heavily modified motorhome.
Hughes isn’t a totally unproven engineer. He set a Guinness World Record in 2002 for a limousine jump, according to technology website Ars Technica, and has been building rockets for years, albeit with mixed results.
He built his first manned rocket in 2014, and managed to fly 400m over Winkelman, Arizona.
Hughes only recently converted to flat-Eartherism, after struggling for months to raise funds for his follow-up flight over the Mojave.
While his flat-Earth friends helped him get the rocket built, Hughes will be making adjustments right up to the launch. But he won’t be able to test the rocket before he climbs inside and attempts to steam himself into the sky.
He said last year that the second phase of his mission might involve floating in a balloon up to 20,000 feet (6000m) above the ground, then using a rocket pack to fly into outer space.
‘‘It’s scary as hell,’’ he said. ‘‘But none of us are getting out of this world alive.’’ Washington Post