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Daredevil dies after homemade rocket crashes in desert while filming TV show
ABC News ^ | 2-23-2020 | JON HAWORTH

Posted on 02/23/2020 7:13:17 AM PST by deport

A daredevil has died after crashing in a homemade rocket he had launched himself while filming a program.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, died on Saturday near Barstow, California, after a rocket that he had built and crashed into the ground on private property at approximately 1:52 p.m. on Saturday near Highway 247, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

"In a cosmic quest to explore the final frontier on a shoe-string budget, Mike Hughes and Waldo Stakes have built a steam powered rocket that will launch "Mad Mike" 5,000 feet into the air," said an article on the Science Channel, owned by the Discovery Channel, that has since been updated to confirm Hughes' death. "As ground-breaking and awe-inspiring as this event will be, it is only the first step towards an even more ambitious goal in space exploration."

(Excerpt) Read more at abc11.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: australia; darwinaward; flatearth; flatearther; flatmikesociety; hughes; madmike; madmikehughes; michaelhughes; mikehughes; rocket; steampunk
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To: deport

He would have done a great Reality Show. Daredevil, attention Hog, but with the mind of an engineer.
I have known two people like this. They are often very suggestible, and can be pushed one way or another depending on the approval or friendship they gain.

In the back of my mind, I’m thinking this is the type of guy who would be very useful to gangs or radical groups as a bomb maker. Someone with innate intelligence, but a heavy touch of insecurity. Just give him a uniform, title, a budget and a few nubile
‘interns’. He’ll keep cranking out those bombs like hot loaves of white bread.


41 posted on 02/23/2020 8:15:42 AM PST by lee martell
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To: deport

Unfortunately it became a ground breaking event when the parachute ripped off.


42 posted on 02/23/2020 8:24:02 AM PST by Sasparilla ( I'm Not Tired of Winning)
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To: deport
The rocket was hit by a car as he was trailering it out to the desert for this flight. He stopped off at Lucerne Valley to do the repairs to the rocket after the accident. Signs, Signs, everywhere a sign!
43 posted on 02/23/2020 8:24:42 AM PST by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin
Maybe Karman was his girlfriend

Which leads inevitably to the question: Where in the world is Karman's Winnebago?

44 posted on 02/23/2020 8:30:13 AM PST by Rocky
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To: Moonman62

And 5,000 feet isn’t space. There are better ways to get to that altitude.


He could have driven up to Big Bear—its even in the same county.


45 posted on 02/23/2020 8:30:46 AM PST by hanamizu
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To: Moonman62

“There are better ways to get to that altitude.”

like maybe renting a piloted aircraft to ride in for a couple of hours?


46 posted on 02/23/2020 8:34:32 AM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Paladin2

Gives me an idea
for a “Time Moosheen!”


47 posted on 02/23/2020 8:36:09 AM PST by Big Red Badger (Despised by the Despicable!)
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To: deport

Pick a fight with Isaac Newton...


48 posted on 02/23/2020 8:40:11 AM PST by lurk
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To: Paladin2

I have too much to do now and you go make me write a note to go and build one of those light fixtures.


49 posted on 02/23/2020 8:40:49 AM PST by Cold Heart (.)
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To: liberalh8ter

As I read the event this was another attempt at getting some
type vehicle to reach approx 62 miles above the earth so that
he could see the curvature. He just didn’t make it to the final
vehicle that he needed.


50 posted on 02/23/2020 8:44:47 AM PST by deport
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To: deport
Couple of random thoughts:

Guy was 64. He's probably not eligible for a Darwin Award, cause that's for people who would have been likely to reproduce.

Commercial flights cruise at around 35,000 feet. 5,000 feet isn't even above what an ultralight can do.

Minor suspicion: I've always thought the "flat earth" thing was an organized disinformation campaign. For a few bucks, some governmental think tank puts out this stuff, so they can go, "Look everyone on the internet is a loon. You need to stick to trusted newspeople, like Anderson Cooper.and Don Lemon." There may be a few people that actually believe it, but there are way too many posts with professional graphics out there.

51 posted on 02/23/2020 8:52:10 AM PST by Richard Kimball (WWG1WGA)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Flat Earth moron removes himself from the gene pool. We need more just like him. /s

52 posted on 02/23/2020 9:35:27 AM PST by SunkenCiv (by the way -- what was his FR nick?)
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To: SunkenCiv

Just remember, it’s not speed that kills. It’s the sudden deceleration.


53 posted on 02/23/2020 9:39:53 AM PST by .44 Special (Tiamid Buacach!)
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To: deport

That dang Van Allen belt pushed him right back down...

He may have failed to prove that the earth is flat, but he DID figure out how applesauce is made.


54 posted on 02/23/2020 9:49:30 AM PST by joethedrummer
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To: deport

He certainly proved the Law of Gravity.


55 posted on 02/23/2020 9:51:03 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: xp38

”The last thing you want in exploring space is a shoe string budget.“

- For a few hundred bucks, he could have bought himself a flight to 50,000 feet and received a free beverage and bag of pretzels while he enjoyed the view.


56 posted on 02/23/2020 9:53:39 AM PST by joethedrummer
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To: xp38

Hold on here, I think somebody forgot to hook the parachute up.


57 posted on 02/23/2020 9:55:31 AM PST by cabbieguy ("I suppose it will all make sense when we grow up"can't be counted)
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To: xp38
"The last thing you want in exploring space is a shoe string budget."

The Old Negro Space Program

Burt Rutan won the X-Prize with his space program funded by $25 million of Paul Allen's money. Definitely NOT chump change, but dirt cheap as far as anything aerospace goes.

Black Sky The Race for Space

(Of course having the nickname of "Mad Mike" may have been an indication that all may not go well....)


58 posted on 02/23/2020 10:18:25 AM PST by BwanaNdege ( Experience is the best teacher, but if you can accept it 2nd hand, the tuition is less!)
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To: deport
Mike Hughes and Waldo Stakes have built a steam powered rocket . . .

. . . which ran out of coal and crashed."

59 posted on 02/23/2020 11:53:03 AM PST by Oatka
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To: Meatspace
"I don't want to take anyone else's word for it," he said in the video, posted on the BBC News website. "I don't know if the world is flat or round."

_____________________

Well…………”round or flat, he sure found out the earth was hard.

60 posted on 02/24/2020 2:43:23 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it unusual...)
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