Self-taught rocket scientist finally blasts off into California sky

[sl8]

From Youtube:

Mad Mike Hughes (RUFF) blasts off 03-24-18

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

Self-taught rocket scientist finally blasts off into California sky

"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]

1. "Rockoon," a rocket that is carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon

Because we need to know if the world is flat

[Botany]

2. aka Death Wish 2018

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]

3. So is the world flat?!

I've been waiting for him to confirm for months now! We need our definitive answer!

[Blue_true]

19. You won't get one. He was not remotely high enough. nt

[Brother Buzz]

23. He would have been better served climbing the adjacent mountain peaks to have a look-see

They are more than twice as high as rocket shot.

[Blue_true]

25. Even the highest mountain on Earth would not allow his to see the circular curvature in the Earth.

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]

29. So sorry, I forgot to come back here

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]

4. Well, good for him. Alive and hopefully satisfied.

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]

10. The owner of the town, Albert Okura, is something of an eccentric, and was totally on board

The launch was green-lighted by Albert Okura, who bought the desert town in 2005. Okura, who was there at the launch. said that the event lasted between three and four minutes. He said that Hughes branded Amboy as "Rocket Town" and it was amazing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Okura

[Hortensis]

12. Oh, I didn't read it. I just looked Amboy up. We've driven

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]

15. Amboy has a strong Route 66 connection, and that's Albert Okura's attraction

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]

16. This is wonderful. Thank you, Brother Buzz.

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]

5. And how did this help him prove the earth is flat?

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]

7. Well, that's what he said after he got funding from the Flat Earth folks.

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]

18. From the elevation that he reached.

He can only see the earth out to a more distant horizon. His stunt proved nothing.

[Downtown Hound]

22. What are you talking about?

All he could see up there was flat Earth.

PROOF!

[Blue_true]

26. Sorry about the confusion, I meant the same thing you pointed out.

He would see to a more distant horizon, but he would still only see a flat earth.

[Downtown Hound]

27. I was only joking

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]

30. Even if that guy got into orbit and saw the earth was round, not sure that

he would conclude that he had been tricked.

[USALiberal]

6. This idiot is trying to prove earth is flat. nt

[JDC]

8. That's for "next time" he says.

This time he is testing the theory of gravity I guess.

[USALiberal]

11. LOL! nt

[struggle4progress]

9. Coming up: he runs for governor

[Old Vet]

13. Oh hell yeah I would do this, Good for him I say.............

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. I wonder if he took the time to look for his house.

[Blue_true]

17. He is a flat earther.

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]

20. self taught, engineer, nutcase, whatever

I give him KUDOS for living his dream.

Yay Mike Hughes!!!!

[ProudLib72]

21. I want to know what kind of Gs he pulled

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]

24. If you look at the video

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.

[blake2012]

28. he may shoot himself into the air in rocket-like devices, but he's no scientist.