Flat-Earth Rocketeer Fails to Launch (Again)

https://www.space.com/39595-mad-mike...unch-fail.html

https://youtu.be/3fpoTg5P334

The flat-Earth rocketeer remains planet-bound.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, a flat-Earth conspiracy theorist who has managed to get
significant attention for his now-repeated failed rocket launches, strapped
himself into his second homemade rocket Saturday (Feb. 3). But, as Noize TV
documented in an excruciating 11-minute livestream of the event, Hughes' rocket
never left its pad.

His stated plan, as Live Science previously reported, is to launch himself 1,800
feet (550 meters) above the desert in California and take photos before bailing
out in a parachute. These photos, shot from a height anyone can reach by
climbing a very tall building or even a small mountain, will, Hughes claims,
show that the Earth is flat.

In fact, it's pretty easy for anyone to show that the Earth is round with a
simple experiment — though the planet's curvature doesn't become visible to the
naked eye until a height of about 35,000 feet (10,700 m).

Hughes canceled his previous launch after the Bureau of Land Management caught
wind that he planned to crash his rocket into public land. In a video posted to
YouTube, Hughes claimed that Saturday's failure resulted from a faulty plunger
or a blown o-ring. However, he added that the details will remain unclear until
the rocket cools down and he opens it up to examine it in detail.

Hughes went on to say that the launch could still happen this week — though he
does have to be in court Tuesday because he's suing a range of California
officials, from Gov. Jerry Brown to U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

"It's just aggravating," he told a small crowd of reporters. "I mean, what do
you do?"




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