Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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Man launches himself in self-made rocket to prove flat Earth theory
24 Mar 2018
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a19587128/self-taught-rocket-scientist-blasts-off/
The launch in the desert town about 200 miles (321.85 kilometers) east of Los Angeles was originally scheduled in November. It was scrubbed several times due to logistical issues with the Bureau of Land Management and mechanical problems that kept popping up.
The 61-year-old limo driver converted a mobile home into a ramp and modified it to launch from a vertical angle so he wouldn't fall back to the ground on public land. For months he's been working on overhauling his rocket in his garage.
It looked like Saturday might be another in a string of cancellations, given that the wind was blowing and his rocket was losing steam. Ideally, they wanted it at 350 psi for maximum thrust, but it was dropping to 340.
"I told Mike we could try to keep charging it up and get it hotter," said Waldo Stakes, who's been helping Hughes with his endeavor. "He said, 'No.'"
Sometime after 3 p.m. PDT, and without a countdown, Hughes' rocket soared into the sky.
Hughes reached a speed that Stakes estimated to be around 350 mph before pulling his parachute. Hughes was dropping too fast, though, and he had to deploy a second one. He landed with a thud and the rocket's nose broke in two places like it was designed to do.
"This thing wants to kill you 10 different ways," said Hughes, who had an altimeter in his cockpit to measure his altitude. "This thing will kill you in a heartbeat.
Photo gallery with close-ups of rocket and internals:
https://madmikehughes.com/mad-mike-hughes
[video=youtube;fp2q_dKuc-c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp2q_dKuc-c[/video]
[video=youtube;j5xw3MM9G0E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xw3MM9G0E[/video]
[video=youtube;iwku5Alsi04]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwku5Alsi04[/video]
24 Mar 2018
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a19587128/self-taught-rocket-scientist-blasts-off/
The launch in the desert town about 200 miles (321.85 kilometers) east of Los Angeles was originally scheduled in November. It was scrubbed several times due to logistical issues with the Bureau of Land Management and mechanical problems that kept popping up.
The 61-year-old limo driver converted a mobile home into a ramp and modified it to launch from a vertical angle so he wouldn't fall back to the ground on public land. For months he's been working on overhauling his rocket in his garage.
It looked like Saturday might be another in a string of cancellations, given that the wind was blowing and his rocket was losing steam. Ideally, they wanted it at 350 psi for maximum thrust, but it was dropping to 340.
"I told Mike we could try to keep charging it up and get it hotter," said Waldo Stakes, who's been helping Hughes with his endeavor. "He said, 'No.'"
Sometime after 3 p.m. PDT, and without a countdown, Hughes' rocket soared into the sky.
Hughes reached a speed that Stakes estimated to be around 350 mph before pulling his parachute. Hughes was dropping too fast, though, and he had to deploy a second one. He landed with a thud and the rocket's nose broke in two places like it was designed to do.
"This thing wants to kill you 10 different ways," said Hughes, who had an altimeter in his cockpit to measure his altitude. "This thing will kill you in a heartbeat.
Photo gallery with close-ups of rocket and internals:
https://madmikehughes.com/mad-mike-hughes
[video=youtube;fp2q_dKuc-c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp2q_dKuc-c[/video]
[video=youtube;j5xw3MM9G0E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xw3MM9G0E[/video]
[video=youtube;iwku5Alsi04]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwku5Alsi04[/video]
