'This flat Earth has nothing to do with the steam rocket launches, it never did, it never will. However, in the interview with, Hughes clarified, 'although I do believe in the flat Earth, this was never an attempt to prove that.' 'I'm going to build my own rocket right here and I'm going to see it with my own eyes what shape this world we live on.' In a 2017 documentary about the daredevil entitled 'Rocketman: Mad Mike's Mission to Prove the Flat Earth,' Hughes stated, 'I'm not going to take anyone else's word for it, or NASA, or especially Elon Musk with SpaceX,' he said. But, according to Hughes, there was no tie between these conspiracies and his love for launching rockets. People are saying that Hughes was launching to 'prove' the Earth is flat, as Hughes is openly a believer in a number of conspiracy theories, including the flat Earth theory. So, if Hughes knew how dangerous it would be to launch himself in this rocket and had already suffered from a difficult landing previously, why did he choose to launch?įollowing this tragic accident, a common notion has reemerged in the media. The passenger, who was to be Hughes, would then return to Earth via the help of a parachute. The 'rockoon' would work by means of a balloon taking a rocket up fairly high into the air (about 22 to 25 miles), where it would disconnect from the rocket, which would soar to the Kármán line, or the line signifying the beginning of space, Stakes told. Stakes and Hughes meant for this launch to be a steppingstone to the creation of what they called their 'rockoon,' a combination of a rocket and balloon. 'When you climb inside the rocket there's a 50% chance you're not gonna climb back out of it.' But, Stakes added at the time, 'Mike is a daredevil and he's willing to take the risk.'

'This is a 50-50 deal,' Stakes added in a 2019 interview with. 'It's a dangerous thing to do,' he told. But, while that launch was a success, he told in a 2019 interview that he landed pretty hard in the Mojave desert, and this hard landing even caused him to get a compressed vertebra.Įspecially with a difficult, painful landing under his belt, Hughes was aware of how risky the daredevil feat was.

In 2018, Hughes successfully launched to 1,875 feet (0.57 kilometers) in an earlier version of the homemade rocket. According to Chapman, the rocket 'appeared to rub against the launch apparatus, which might have torn the parachutes attached to it,' AP reported. Justin Chapman, a freelance journalist, witnessed the crash along with his wife, he told the AP.

Flat earther launches himself