Eccentric character, reckless stuntman, fervent supporter of the self-styled theory of the flat Earth, who became a DIY rocket designer and builder on which he was launched at increasing heights, 'Mad' Mike Hughes died in a badly finished rocket launch steamship, crashing ashore near Barstow, in the southern California desert. The BBC writes it.
Hughes, 64, one day dreamed of being able to get launched into space with a rocket in order to finally photograph the earth "without tricks", the entire surface of the earth, thus demonstrating his 'terrapiattista' creed, for which he made himself finance for many years, but managed to gather modest amounts.
Former holder of the limousine jump length record, since 2014 he built and piloted artisan rockets, with which he managed to be projected up to almost 500 meters above sea level in Arizona before falling back on the ground with a parachute. In a subsequent launch in 2018 on the Mojave desert, California, it reached 572 meters after a diagonal launch from an inclined ramp.
In his last and fatal launch yesterday, also posted on Youtube, he intended to exceed 1,500 meters above sea level with a steam rocket launched from a ramp by a truck: a rocket that he had built in his home garden with an assistant for the amount of $ 18,000. In the video, the rocket is seen to lose the parachute an instant after launch, thus leaving Hughes and his small carrier then fall to the ground without brakes.