A daredevil flat earther died when he was trying to launch a homemade rocket in a desert in California.
Michael “Mad Mike” Hughes, a 64-year-old, crash-landed the steam-powered rocket shortly after it took-off on February 22, 2020.
Mad Mike, a resident of the Apple Valley, is a well-known flat Earth Conspiracy theorist that had been trying to prove that the earth was flat.
His goal was to get close enough to space to prove that he was right.
Assisted by his partner Waldo Stakes, Hughes attempted to reach the heights of 5,000 feet while riding the homemade rocket.
The launch was filmed as part of the Homemade Astronauts, a TV show about amateur rocket makers that will be airing on the US Science Channel.
Footage shared on social media shows the rocket being fired in the air and plummeting back down to earth.
A parachute could also be seen trailing behind the rocket, but it deployed too soon.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that the daredevil died in the incident.
They also confirmed that officers had been called to a rocket launch event at around 14:00 pm local time on February 22, 2020.
Michael was pronounced dead after the rocket crashed in the open desert.
The US Science Channel, the channel where the show of Mad Mike was supposed to air, released a statement about the incident on Twitter.
The statement said, “Michael ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket. 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.”
Mad Mike and his assistants reportedly built the rocket that crashed in the desert.
The BBC News said the rocket was built in the back garden of Hughes and it cost around $18,000.
The rocket ran off steam which it ejected through a nozzle to propel it forward in the sky.