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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSelf-taught rocket scientist finally blasts off into California sky
From Youtube:
Matt Hartman
Published on Mar 25, 2018
Mad Mike Hughes(ruff) blasts off in his steam powered home-built rocket
AMBOY, CA 03-24-18
From https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/self-taught-rocket-scientist-finally-blasts-california-sky-n859801
"I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket. I'm tired of that stuff. I manned up and did it."
Mar.25.2018 / 12:02 AM ET / Source: Associated Press
"Mad" Mike Hughes' home-made rocket launches near Amboy, Calif., on Saturday, March 24, 2018.Matt Hartman via AP
LOS ANGELES He finally went up just like the self-taught rocket scientist always pledged he would.
He came back down in one piece, too a little dinged up and his steam-powered vessel a little cracked up.
Still, mission accomplished for a guy more daredevil than engineer, who drew more comparisons to the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote from his critics than he did to iconic stunt man Evel Knievel.
...
More at link.
underpants
(182,279 posts)Because we need to know if the world is flat
Botany
(70,291 posts)and those kids were with in a few feet of the launch site .... this clown
wants to die or be in a wheel chair fine .... as long as he doesn't get other
people killed or put into danger.
blugbox
(951 posts)I've been waiting for him to confirm for months now! We need our definitive answer!
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)They are more than twice as high as rocket shot.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)He would have to get at least into the lowest earth orbit. I like the guy's scientific ingenuity at taking common items and making them do things that equipment costing much more money do, that was impressive.
blugbox
(951 posts)I was totally kidding about waiting for the big news from this joker. I mean commercial jet liners cruise at like 35,000ft and flat earthers claim it's the windows that give the curvature even from that height... So what was he hoping to prove?
I'm glad he survived, but I hope this doesn't "prove" anything in his mind...
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)We've camped out "there" many times, and I'm guessing whoever owns that land had no idea funky history was being made. Closest we ever came to knowing who owned where we camped were National Forester Service and "keep out, private property" signs, but even those are almost as rare as maple trees out there.
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Okura
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)by so many of those little clusters anchored by a gas station. Leave them far behind and take the first intriguing dirt road or sand wash heading off into some range of desert hills, or winding out across an empty valley until you've left the civilization of the highway and Amboy far behind.
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)Interesting, Okura also purchased the site (just the property) of the original McDonald's opened by Dick and Mac McDonald in 1948 and moved his corporate headquarters to the site. The dude is on a mission capturing and preserving Americana, and I can support that.
All I know of Amboy is what I learned from the late great Huell Howser's visit a million years ago.
Amboy appears around 19:30
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Pfft for the road from the salt flat to the volcano. They're being silly.
The route 66 theme reminds me of a poster I bought that my husband didn't like. I have go find it where it's been wrapped up. It's some funky architectural creation all alone and long abandoned on some desert highway. Don't remember at the moment what improbable object was being replicated as the outside of a little coffee shop or something, but it was clearly a personal creation. My husband found it depressing, but I saw as a monument to very personal dreams and didn't mind that it didn't last.
The last we saw of some old friends when we moved out of Nevada, they intended to eventually move back to the Mojave, where he'd once lived, off the grid, trucking water out from town in an old water heater now and then, etc. They eventually disappeared, and we've never found them on the web. They weren't weirdos, very functional and had a great marriage, so I like to think they're out there somewhere. Maybe up or overlooking a canyon with some little oasis full of improbable life.
Generic Brad
(14,270 posts)That was the reason he wanted to shoot himself up in a rocket - to have a look see from way up high and prove that the curvature of the earth was fake.
At least he didn't die. That's the only good thing I can say about his pseudo science project.
sl8
(13,584 posts)I'm pretty sure that's not the reason behind the stunt. He was performing daredevil stunts long before his association with the flat earthers.
But, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to get funding, I guess.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)He can only see the earth out to a more distant horizon. His stunt proved nothing.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)All he could see up there was flat Earth.
PROOF!
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)He would see to a more distant horizon, but he would still only see a flat earth.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)It was a commentary on how of course all he would see is more flat land, but to him, that would be proof. I was being sarcastic. I should should remember to use the sarcasm thingy.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)he would conclude that he had been tricked.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)JDC
(10,084 posts)This time he is testing the theory of gravity I guess.
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)Old Vet
(2,001 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)But, given no background in rocketry, how he planned and executed things is impressive. Just surprised that a guy with that capability accepts an easily debunked claim.
onethatcares
(16,133 posts)I give him KUDOS for living his dream.
Yay Mike Hughes!!!!
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)I'm thinking the one danger to be really afraid of (if everything else was working properly) would be passing out and not pulling the chute.
BumRushDaShow
(127,317 posts)he was pulled out of the vehicle and didn't look to be in good shape - probably from when the rocket slammed into the ground (and I doubt there was much inside it to cushion a hard landing like that). I wouldn't be surprise if he didn't suffer a concussion, some broken bones, and a spinal injury. They had paramedics on the scene with an ambulance ready to go.