This man is about to launch himself in his homemade rocket to prove the Earth is flat

Washington Post ^ | 11/21/17 | Avi Selk

[Blue House Sue]

Seeking to prove that a conspiracy of astronauts fabricated the shape of the Earth, a California man intends to launch himself 1,800 feet high on Saturday in a rocket he built from scrap metal.

Assuming the 500-mph, mile-long flight through the Mojave Desert does not kill him, Mike Hughes told the Associated Press, his journey into the atmosflat will mark the first phase of his ambitious flat-Earth space program.

Hughes’s ultimate goal is a subsequent launch that puts him miles above the Earth, where the 61-year-old limousine driver hopes to photograph proof of the disc we all live on.

“It’ll shut the door on this ball earth,” Hughes said in a fundraising interview with a flat-Earth group for Saturday’s flight. Theories discussed during the interview included NASA being controlled by round-Earth Freemasons and Elon Musk making fake rockets from blimps.

[Seruzawa]

1800 feet? Why doesn’t he just drive to the top of Mt Palomar?

[Crucial]

Global warming is highly idiotic and dangerous but this is just flat-out and meaninglessly stupid.

[moovova]

I have confidence in you Sir!

Mash that button.

[rlmorel]

I can't disagree with that!

[shibumi]

"Seeking to prove that a conspiracy of astronauts fabricated the shape of the Earth, a California man intends to launch himself 1,800 feet high on Saturday in a rocket he built from scrap metal."

Much as I hate to harsh the buzz someone should tell him that hot air balloons have already gone over 60,000 feet.

In most cases they did it without the chance of explosion or crashing to the ground riding a pile of scrap metal.

[cyclotic]

Larry Walters always intrigued me. If the rope didn’t break, we wouldn’t be talking about him 30 years later. Sadly he was a little disturbed and later killed himself

[Empireoftheatom48]

I just hope he doesn’t get anyone else hurt in this hair brained loony toon attempt.

[usconservative]

A balloon with a digital camera would be cheaper, and safer.

Yeah, but that's been done before and all those photo's are photoshopped .......

Now if he could just get several hundred thousand billion feet^10 higher he could probably prove the moon landing was fake too!

[plain talk]

“Why not just rent a small plane?”

... because anyone stupid enough to believe the Earth is flat is too stupid to have thought of that.

Or maybe he is suspicious the pilot may be in on the conspiracy too.

Excellent idea BTW!

[al baby]

Splat earth

[fishtank]

[fishtank]

[Oztrich Boy]

My advice. Plane ticket. Window seat.

[fishtank]

"Rocket" fails launch.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[RegulatorCountry]

I figured it was either hey Bubba hold muh beer’n watch this good old boy or California nut. Being a southerner I’m sort of relieved.

This won’t end well but hopefully he’ll survive so we won’t have to be ashamed about laughing.

[Tudorfly]

Well said.

[hoagy62]

That’s assuming that he doesn’t get blown to hash upon ignition.

This ‘flat Earth’ belief seems to me a sign of mental illness. He should be tested before attempting this asshattery. Betcha he’s nuttier than a fruitcake.

[50mm]

I've been eight miles high.

And when I touched down,

I found that it's stranger than known.

[nonsporting]

Much cheaper to hire an airplane ... he can get a lot higher than 1800 feet that way.

How about a "hot air balloon"?

That's a better guarantee for a soft landing.