Flat-Earther “Mad” Mike Hughes blasted off into the Californian sky over the weekend in a home-made steam powered rocket and lived to tell the tale to his cats.
“I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket,” said Hughes who, after several botched attempts, successfully launched himself 1,875 feet into the sky on Saturday before deploying a parachute and making his way back to the ground intact, The Telegraph reported.
Hughes subscribes to the theory that the Earth is flat and hoped to finally settle arguments regarding the topic by eventually propelling himself high enough into the air to prove it.
Since 2016 the 61-year-old limo driver has been working on the project and already has spent about $20,000, but in the end it was worth it, Hughes said.
“Am I glad I did it? Yeah. I guess,” he told The Associated Press after making a hard landing on private land in the Mojave Desert owned by Albert Okura.
“Mike branded us as ‘Rocket Town’,” Okura said, per ABC News, describing the launch as “amazing.”
It was a close call on Saturday, as high winds came up and conditions appeared less than favorable for the launch; however, Hughes insisted on trying, Gizmodo noted.
Though his rocket began to lose steam, the daredevil eventually managed to go hurtling into the atmosphere, before he encountered a second problem on the way down.
Hughes was dropping at around 350 mph, so when he pulled his first parachute it was not enough to slow him down, Gizmodo noted.
A second parachute was able to bring him safely to the ground, but Hughes got banged up on his landing.
“I’ll feel it in the morning,” he said.
“I won’t be able to get out of bed. At least I can go home and have dinner and see my cats tonight.”
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