Flat-Earther to Launch Himself in Homemade Steam Rocket Saturday - flat earther.jpg

https://www.space.com/38869-flat-ear...et-launch.html

Well, this should liven up everyone's Thanksgiving weekend.

A flat-Earth enthusiast who claims not to believe in science plans to launch
himself 1,800 feet (550 meters) above California's Mojave Desert in a homemade
steam rocket on Saturday (Nov. 25), the Associated Press reported.

The daredevil, 61-year-old limo driver "Mad" Mike Hughes, built the rocket and
its launch ramp himself for about $20,000, according to the AP. If all goes
according to plan, the contraption will accelerate to a top speed of 500 mph
(800 km/h) and travel about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) away from the launch site, a
ghost town called Amboy. (Hughes will make a parachute-aided touchdown.)

Hughes buys into the flat-Earth conspiracy theory, according to the AP; indeed,
the rocket's chief sponsor is a group called Research Flat Earth. Saturday's
liftoff won't get Hughes nearly high enough to gather any photographic evidence
about our planet's shape — which is an oblate spheroid, by the way — but such a
mission may be in Mad Mike's future.

He and a collaborator have discussed building a "rockoon" — a rocket that
launches after being carried aloft by a balloon — that could get up to an
altitude of 68 miles (109 km), the AP reported.

Hughes' refusal to accept the truth about Earth's shape might make you skeptical
about Saturday's launch, and about the future rockoon project. If so, his own
words probably won't do much to bring you around.

"I don’t believe in science," Hughes said, according to the AP. "I know about
aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and how things move through the air, about the
certain size of rocket nozzles, and thrust. But that’s not science, that’s just
a formula. There’s no difference between science and science fiction."

The entire story is definitely worth your time. You can read it here.

https://apnews.com/9d8e5e8e9245412ab...ver-ghost-town




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