Daredevil 'Mad Mike' Hughes dies in crash of his homemade rocket in California

[webfact]

Daredevil 'Mad Mike' Hughes dies in crash of his homemade rocket in California

By Dan Whitcomb

 

"Mad" Mike Hughes, who died after a homemade rocket he was on crash-landed in the desert near Barstow, California, U.S., is seen in an undated picture obtained from social media on February 23, 2020. Science Channel/via REUTERS

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Mad Mike" Hughes, a self-styled explorer and daredevil bent on proving that the earth is flat was killed over the weekend when his homemade rocket crashed in the California desert over the weekend.

 

"Michael 'Mad Mike' Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket," the Science Channel, which was planning to feature him on an upcoming series called "Homemade Astronauts," said on Twitter.

 

"Our thoughts & prayers go out to his family & friends during this difficult time. It was always his dream to do this launch & Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey," the network said.

 

A videotape of the incident, in which the rocket appears to fail shortly after take-off in the Mojave Desert outside Barstow, California, was posted to Twitter by Justin Chapman, a freelance journalist who was filming the launch.

 

"Mad Mike Hughes just launched himself in a self-made steam-powered rocket and crash landed. Very likely did not survive," Chapman wrote in a caption to the video. Barstow is about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

 

Chapman told the Los Angeles Times in an interview that Hughes, 64, might have been knocked unconscious during take-off.

 

"The parachute ripped off at launch," Chapman told the paper. "So the rocket went straight up in an arc and came straight down."

 

The video appears to show the launcher attached to the back of a truck. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office told the Times that it would conduct an investigation into the incident.

 

Hughes gained fame in 2002 when he jumped a Lincoln Town Car stretch limousine 103 feet at a speedway in Perris, California, a stunt certified by Guinness World Records as "longest limousine ramp jump."

 

The silver-haired daredevil later took to trying to prove that the earth was flat and building rockets in a quest to launch himself past the Karman line, the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.

 

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Richard Chang)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-24

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[Tug]

Another contender for the Darwin Award rip nuckell head

[Matzzon]

Probably seen to much of Ben & Holly together with the wise old elf. Wonder if he also warned the rest of his imaginary crew to not make to much magic jelly.

[bendejo]

Fake news!

Hoax!

Conspiracy theory!

 

He actually died by falling off the edge of the flat Earth.

 

 

[Kelsall]

13 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Fake news!

Hoax!

Conspiracy theory!

 

 

 

 

Dude, let it go.

[sirineou]

The earth  might not be flat but he............ 

[Tayaout]

21 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Fake news!

Hoax!

Conspiracy theory!

 

He actually died by falling off the edge of the flat Earth.

 

 

Nope he hit the glass dome. 

 

[EVENKEEL]

Pretty neat.....

[rvaviator]

As long as they hurt nobody else - its great to see eccentric people with 'somewhat  unconventional views'   making this world a more a bit more interesting ...

 

Rest in peace .. it nothing else you now know the answer to .. 'is there life after death ' ...

[AussieBob18]

Amazes me that some people still dont believe in some things.  I can understand not believing the climate science and the associated scams, but how can anyone believe that the world is flat and that man never stood on the moon.  But then again some people think Obama was the best POTUS - unbelievable what some people think. 

[klauskunkel]

Well, he could not prove the earth was flat, but he sure proofed that gravity was still working as usual.

[Geoffggi]

R.I.P Mike, at least you didn't sit in a corner and watch the world go by you followed your dreams and lived life to the full, sorry this venture didn't work out but at least you did your bit to advance knowledge with your beliefs......!!

[AhFarangJa]

Well, he went out with a bang anyway.

R.I.P..

[Catoni]

2 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Probably seen to much of Ben & Holly together with the wise old elf. Wonder if he also warned the rest of his imaginary crew to not make to much magic jelly.

Not familiar with Ben & Holly. So I don’t know about too much magic jelly. 

[Chomper Higgot]

54 minutes ago, AussieBob18 said:

Amazes me that some people still dont believe in some things.  I can understand not believing the climate science and the associated scams, but how can anyone believe that the world is flat and that man never stood on the moon.  But then again some people think Obama was the best POTUS - unbelievable what some people think. 

Triggered.

[Catoni]

45 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

Well, he could not prove the earth was flat, but he sure proofed that gravity was still working as usual.

Yes, he sure proved that gravity still works. 

    But the cost was extremely high. 

[Catoni]

1 hour ago, rvaviator said:

As long as they hurt nobody else - its great to see eccentric people with 'somewhat  unconventional views'   making this world a more a bit more interesting ...

 

Rest in peace .. it nothing else you now know the answer to .. 'is there life after death ' ...

Wrong....if there is no life after death....then obviously he does not know it.  

    And if there is life after death...like being reborn into another life....the death and rebirth process wipes our memory clean of having lived before. 

  That’s my guess.   We’re all going to face that final day. Get ready. 

[Catoni]

9 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Triggered.

What do you mean “Triggered”? 

 

He didn’t flip out angry. He simply made a good common sense statement. Typed calmly. 

    Not “Triggered” at all. 

[TKDfella]

Okay, i don't agree with Flat Earthers but I don't like to see them die for their ideas no more than I want NASA astronauts to die. My condolences to his family. Personally, had I been him I would have suggested to the FE society to gather funds to buy a ticket on one the up and coming private space plane for tourists.

[SiSePuede419]

1 hour ago, AussieBob18 said:

I can understand not believing the climate science and the associated scams

Associated Scams = 10,000+ scientists are lying.

 

But a willfully ignorant dilettante is telling you the TROOF. ????

[Stargeezr]

Yes there are people who die each day, proving themselves wrong.  I have met some people who think tbat wind power is great, until I got them to google how many birds have been killed

by this so called clean energy. Very high maintenance, and the used vanes are not getting

reycled. I think that the climate is hanging, and the earth itself is heating itself up, but

the special interest groups do not want reports from actual scientests, They will only

believe people like Al Gore, David Susuki, and other socalled scientests.

Geezer

[bendejo]

6 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Yes there are people who die each day, proving themselves wrong.  I have met some people who think tbat wind power is great, until I got them to google how many birds have been killed

by this so called clean energy. Very high maintenance, and the used vanes are not getting

reycled. I think that the climate is hanging, and the earth itself is heating itself up, but

the special interest groups do not want reports from actual scientests, They will only

believe people like Al Gore, David Susuki, and other socalled scientests.

Geezer

⭐  A gold star post, deserves to be echoed.

The only other person I ever heard warning of the dangers of wind energy is, ummm, never mind.

 

 

[pedro01]

Mike Hughes "The World is Flat"

The World "Mike Hughes is Flat"

[ivor bigun]

well at least the bit he landed on was flat .

[OttoPollmann]

2 hours ago, Tayaout said:

Nope he hit the glass dome. 

 

Luckily he didn't poke a hole in the sealing otherwise we would have a second Noah's Flood

[AussieBob18]

1 hour ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Associated Scams = 10,000+ scientists are lying.

 

But a willfully ignorant dilettante is telling you the TROOF. ????

Names and Addresses please - I'll wait.

[spidermike007]

For a man capable of building his own rocket, it is astonishing that he simply could not believe the thousands of images we have seen of earth, from space. And in terms of reason, why have the millions of ships that have sailed the oceans, not fallen off into the abyss, when they reached the "edge of the world"? And how do the thousands of satellites orbit around a flat earth? How does the water in the ocean contain itself on a flat earth? That would be quite a waterfall at the edge. Where would all that water go? Why am I even asking these questions, is probably the better question. LOL. 

 

What can one say? How was the rocket supposed to land safely? How many billions does NASA spend on that alone? Perhaps it was simply a way to commit suicide, with as much fanfare as possible. He got his 15 minutes of fame. Post mortem. 

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, Catoni said:

Not familiar with Ben & Holly. So I don’t know about too much magic jelly. 

No problem, you are excused! Don´t let that ruin your day.

[AgMech Cowboy]

5 hours ago, Tug said:

Another contender for the Darwin Award rip nuckell head

Yep! 

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

R.I.P Mike, at least you didn't sit in a corner and watch the world go by you followed your dreams and lived life to the full, sorry this venture didn't work out but at least you did your bit to advance knowledge with your beliefs......!!

Which knowledge did he advance?

 

Unless it's that steam powered rockets aren't necessarily a good idea.