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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.
UPDATE (11/25/17): His first launch atttempt had to be cancelled after his homemade launcher broke down in his driveway.
...so does some science!
He believes the Earth is flat, and wants to build a rocket so that he can go up and take a look for himself.
So he has an hypothesis and is going to build and experiment to either prove or disprove it...
Maybe his definition of science is a bit different from mine, though...
But this guy is doing more real science and engineering than most of us ever will.
Oh sure, he mocks the terms - but I interpret that as mocking the orthodoxy. "You can't do that - y'all aint got no degree and learnin!".
One person would walk out and die.
The second would be confused for a few minutes, then realise that the entire set has been built as a giant vacuum chamber to trick them - it's probably inside a huge cave underground, with spotlights on the ceiling. He'll tell the others, and no more venture outside.
Conspiracy theories will adapt to counter any evidence presented.