Daredevil Flat-Earther Dies In Homemade Rocket Crash

By John Vibes / Truth Theory

64-year-old Michael Hughes, a daredevil who also goes by the name “Mad Mike,” lost his life during his most recent stunt in California. Hughes shot himself into the sky in a homemade rocket. This is not the first time he has taken part in this type of stunt, and in the past, many people have predicted that he might kill himself someday in one of his rockets.

The accident happened while he was attempting to launch his homemade steam-powered rocket to an altitude of 5,000ft (1,525m), but the craft ended up crashing to the ground just 20 seconds after it was launched.

The launch site was located out in the desert near Barstow, a town north-west of San Bernadino. His passing was confirmed in a tweet by the Science Channel, who was on location filming the stunt for a show called Homemade Astronauts.

Michael 'Mad Mike' Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket. Our thoughts & prayers go out to his family & friends during this difficult time. It was always his dream to do this launch & Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey pic.twitter.com/GxwjpVf2md

— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) February 23, 2020

The video that was captured of the launch showed the rocket form an arc as soon as it was shot into the sky, before throwing out a parachute and falling to the ground. Unfortunately, the parachute did not offer much help, because the rocket took an immediate nosedive to the ground.

Hughes built his first crewed rocket on January 30, 2014, and flew 1,374 feet (419 m) in just over one minute near Winkelman, Arizona. Hughes collapsed after the landing and it took him three days to recover. Hughes stated that the injuries suffered from the flight put him in a walker for two weeks. However, there was no video of Hughes entering the rocket and there were doubts that he was in it when it launched. This launch took place before Hughes was a proponent of the flat earth theory, at the time he was just an unknown daredevil and limo driver.

After becoming a believer in the flat earth theory, Hughes had a much easier time fundraising his daredevil efforts. In his last fundraising campaign, before he publicly professed his belief in flat earth, Hughes raised just over $300, but as soon as he gained the support of the flat earth community, he was able to raise thousands of dollars.

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Image credit: Screenshot ABC Evening News