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+--- Thread: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) (/thread-7472.html)
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Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - C C - Aug 11, 2019
The "Tech Monk" video below about the event includes footage from his rocket launch last year.
https://www.space.com/flat-earther-mad-mike-hughes-august-2019-launch.html
https://www.livescience.com/flat-earther-mad-mike-hughes-rocket-launch.html
EXCERPT: "Mad" Mike Hughes — a flat-Earther, rocket builder and daredevil who previously launched himself 1,875 feet (572 meters) into the air on a homemade rocket — will attempt to launch himself again to a much higher altitude this Sunday (Aug. 11). The attempt will be filmed by the Science Channel for the upcoming new series "Homemade Astronauts." [...] Hughes will lift off aboard a refurbished, improved version of the steam-powered rocket he launched last year. He told Space.com that he's using steam to propel his rocket because it is both inexpensive and relatively simple. "There's no fuel cost; it's water," he said. "Homemade Astronauts," which is set to premiere in 2020, showcases civilians who endeavor to build and launch rockets and equipment for spaceflight.
[...] Though he does believe the Earth is flat and he ascribes to many other conspiracy theories (there isn't enough time or space to explain them all), these beliefs are irrelevant to his career as an amateur rocketeer, he said. "I believe the Earth is flat," Hughes said. But "this flat Earth has nothing to do with the steam rocket launches," he added. "It never did; it never will. I'm a daredevil!"
Hughes aims for Sunday's launch to be the first step in one day reaching the Karman line, a boundary signifying the beginning of space. Now, even if this upcoming launch is successful, it will still be very far from the approximately 327,000 feet (100,000 m) that Hughes will have to reach to achieve this ambitious goal. (MORE)
[...] The stunt, which is being sponsored by a "commitment-free dating app" and filmed as part of an upcoming Discovery Channel series featuring Hughes, gives the 63-year-old rocketeer a chance to outdo himself [...] Despite multiple setbacks and dust-ups with the Bureau of Land Management, Hughes rode his homemade rocket some 1,875 feet (572 m) into the air over Amboy, California, on March 24, 2018, before plummeting back to Earth at 350 mph (563 km/h). Hughes had to deploy two parachutes to save himself from smashing into the desert nose-first, finally walking away with just a sore back.
This Sunday's launch looks to be a bit riskier, with Hughes aiming to blast himself more than twice as high into the sky before dropping back to Earth at around 400 mph (643 km/h), according to a news release for the event. (MORE)
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - Yazata - Aug 11, 2019
Scivillage has been following Mad Mike for some time.
Thread by me
https://www.scivillage.com/thread-5075.html
Thread by CC
https://www.scivillage.com/thread-4817.html
Here's Mike's website
https://madmikehughes.com/
His facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/MadMikeSpaceJump2019
Something from Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2019/08/09/flat-earth-rocket-man-mad-mike-hughes-plans-to-blast-off-again-sunday/#53c113382ac8
I've been looking for a livestream, but don't think that there will be one.
Eat your heart out, Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos!
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - Zinjanthropos - Aug 11, 2019
I remember Kneivel’s Snake River Canyon jump and this stunt sounds just like it. Hope he doesn’t take out a low flying Cessna or get scalded in the process.
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - C C - Aug 12, 2019
Nobody's in a rush to report what happened. Hopefully he and his crew aren't contracted under a secrecy clause so that we have to wait until the Science and Discovery channels air their programming. (Who knows, may be it even got aborted before liftoff.)
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - Zinjanthropos - Aug 12, 2019
Remember this guy. An honorable mention in The Darwin Awards only because he survived.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawnchair_Larry_flight
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - Yazata - Aug 12, 2019
(Aug 12, 2019 05:56 AM)C C Wrote: Nobody's in a rush to report what happened. Hopefully he and his crew aren't contracted under a secrecy clause so that we have to wait until the Science and Discovery channels air their programming. (Who knows, may be it even got aborted before liftoff.)
I can't find anything in the news about the results of his launch. I'm sure that if it was a success, somebody would be reporting it. And if he was killed, the media would be reporting it even more eagerly.
So I'm guessing that it didn't happen, that it got scrubbed for some reason or Mad Mike was arrested for not having the proper permits or something.
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - Yazata - Aug 12, 2019
Space.com is reporting that Mike's launch on Sunday was scrubbed due to technical reasons (a problem with the heater in his steam-rocket) and now he's aiming at a launch date of next Saturday August 17.
https://www.space.com/flat-earther-mad-mike-hughes-august-2019-launch.html
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - C C - Aug 18, 2019
Today was when he supposed to try again. And once more, zippo up to this point as far as what happened. At least there is this audio interview that was made just hours before launch time, as he was driving out to the site. (114 degrees temperature)
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - Yazata - Aug 18, 2019
There aren't any news reports about him launching yesterday. If he had launched, I expect that somebody would be talking about it. If he died doing it, I expect that the news would be talking about it even more happily.
So my guess is that it was scrubbed again.
RE: Flat-Earther to launch himself again in homemade rocket Sunday (DIY astronaut) - C C - Aug 18, 2019
(Aug 18, 2019 04:35 PM)Yazata Wrote: There aren't any news reports about him launching yesterday. If he had launched, I expect that somebody would be talking about it. If he died doing it, I expect that the news would be talking about it even more happily.
So my guess is that it was scrubbed again.
Apparently MMH's act just isn't going to get itself together anytime soon, so he should cancel it for at least another six months (if not more). All that this weekly spectacle which turns out to be nothing is going to accomplish is cause the media to lose interest and provoke his sponsor(s) to write him off.
However, a potential problem he's saddled with this "lengthy rescheduling" time around is that "Homemade Astronauts" is expecting him to deliver something close at hand for that series. I guess the latter could still use the footage they've got so far as an example of what a backyard astronaut goes through in terms of challenges causing a current bout of launch dysfunction.