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Flat Earther Plans To Launch Homemade Manned Rocket (apnews.com)

walterbyrd shares an Associated Press report: Self-taught rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes is a 61-year-old limo driver who's spent the last few years building a steam-powered rocket out of salvage parts in his garage. His project has cost him $20,000, which includes Rust-Oleum paint to fancy it up and a motor home he bought on Craigslist that he converted into a ramp. His first test of the rocket will also be the launch date -- Saturday, when he straps into his homemade contraption and attempts to hurtle over the ghost town of Amboy, California. He will travel about a mile at a speed of roughly 500 mph. "I don't believe in science," said Hughes, whose main sponsor for the rocket is Research Flat Earth. "I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and how things move through the air, about the certain size of rocket nozzles, and thrust. But that's not science, that's just a formula. There's no difference between science and science fiction."
UPDATE (11/25/17): His first launch atttempt had to be cancelled after his homemade launcher broke down in his driveway.

5 of 555 comments (clear)

  1. Re:OMG by bigwheel · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFA says that he plans to open two parachutes, and presumably float to safety. For those old enough to remember, this is not very different from what Evil Knievel did when jumping the Snake River canyon. EK had to know that there was no way he'd land it on 2 wheels. The difference was that EK made a lot of money with his "failed" stunt.

  2. Re:Pass the popcorn by bjorniac · · Score: 5, Informative

    No. Von Braun learnt from Ley and Oberth, and did a PhD in physics specializing in rocketry at Friedrich-Wilhelm University.

  3. Way cool, but needs a better chute! [Re:OMGQ] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Informative

    I wonder if the mechanics of landing are just formulas or "science fiction"

    TFA says that he plans to open two parachutes, and presumably float to safety.

    Yeah. Take a look at the chute on his first launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
    Definitely needs some rethinking, and, yes, a second chute is a really good idea.

    With that said, though: this is really cool!

    another yootoob, this one with still pictures from a test a few months later. You definitely did not want to land inside THAT rocket! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    For those old enough to remember, this is not very different from what Evil Knievel did when jumping the Snake River canyon.

    Strike "what Evil Knievel did". Substitute "what Evil Knievel tried to do.

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    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  4. Re:his troll-fu is weak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ( Trol(ls Id)iots)

  5. Re:OMG by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Informative

    He will bounce off the transparent dome that keeps all the air in first long before he reaches the moon.

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    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.