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Daredevil dies after homemade rocket crashes in desert while filming TV show
ABC News ^ | 2-23-2020 | JON HAWORTH

Posted on 02/23/2020 7:13:17 AM PST by deport

A daredevil has died after crashing in a homemade rocket he had launched himself while filming a program.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, died on Saturday near Barstow, California, after a rocket that he had built and crashed into the ground on private property at approximately 1:52 p.m. on Saturday near Highway 247, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

"In a cosmic quest to explore the final frontier on a shoe-string budget, Mike Hughes and Waldo Stakes have built a steam powered rocket that will launch "Mad Mike" 5,000 feet into the air," said an article on the Science Channel, owned by the Discovery Channel, that has since been updated to confirm Hughes' death. "As ground-breaking and awe-inspiring as this event will be, it is only the first step towards an even more ambitious goal in space exploration."

(Excerpt) Read more at abc11.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: australia; darwinaward; flatearth; flatearther; flatmikesociety; hughes; madmike; madmikehughes; michaelhughes; mikehughes; rocket; steampunk
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1 posted on 02/23/2020 7:13:17 AM PST by deport
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To: deport

Here, hold my beer!


2 posted on 02/23/2020 7:15:34 AM PST by Kriggerel ("All great truths are hard and bitter, but lies... are sweeter than wild honey" (Ragnar Redbeard))
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To: deport

Too fast to live, too young to die, Bye, bye


3 posted on 02/23/2020 7:18:07 AM PST by Old Yeller (Auto-correct has become my worst enema.)
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To: deport

The next Darwin Award entry.


4 posted on 02/23/2020 7:18:38 AM PST by Dan in Wichita
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To: deport

The last thing you want in exploring space is a shoe string budget.


5 posted on 02/23/2020 7:20:27 AM PST by xp38
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To: deport

” Hughes, who believed the Earth is flat, propelled himself about 1,875 feet into the air before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert in March of 2018.

“My story really is incredible,” Hughes told the AP at the time. “It’s got a bunch of story lines — the garage-built thing. I’m an older guy. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, plus the Flat Earth. The problem is it brings out all the nuts also, people questioning everything. It’s the downside of all this.”


6 posted on 02/23/2020 7:21:29 AM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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To: deport
"The problem is it brings out all the nuts also, people questioning everything. It's the downside of all this."

Actually, he was the head nut. And bringing out the nuts obviously wasn't the only downside.

He seemed like a nice guy, though not all there. Folks should have stopped him rather than trying to exploit him for their amusement. This outcome was a certainty.

7 posted on 02/23/2020 7:21:53 AM PST by KevinB ("Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin)
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To: deport

“In a cosmic quest to explore the final frontier on a shoe-string budget,

...

He did get to explore the final frontier, but not the one he had in mind.


8 posted on 02/23/2020 7:23:19 AM PST by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: xp38
The last thing you want in exploring space is a shoe string budget.

and a "steam powered rocket"

9 posted on 02/23/2020 7:24:03 AM PST by Robe (A nation can survive its fools and evet n the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: xp38

The last thing you want in exploring space is a shoe string budget.

...

And 5,000 feet isn’t space. There are better ways to get to that altitude.


10 posted on 02/23/2020 7:24:15 AM PST by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: deport

Flat MIke the Flat Earther


11 posted on 02/23/2020 7:24:33 AM PST by DainBramage
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It reminds me of Otis T. Carr.


12 posted on 02/23/2020 7:25:47 AM PST by TakebackGOP
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To: nuconvert

Actually it’s not bringing OUT the nuts; it’s bringing the DOWN. At terminal velocity.


13 posted on 02/23/2020 7:26:43 AM PST by StAntKnee (Add your own danged sarc tag)
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To: deport

Was this guy related to Super Dave?


14 posted on 02/23/2020 7:27:08 AM PST by Delta 21 (Be strong & prosper, be weak & die! Stay true.... ~~ Donald J. Trump)
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To: Moonman62

Yes. He could have used weather balloons and a lawn chair.


15 posted on 02/23/2020 7:27:20 AM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death by cultsther)
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To: Robe

Steam Power,,,!?!
.
His Choo-Choo
was Loco,
Amigo.


16 posted on 02/23/2020 7:27:36 AM PST by Big Red Badger (Despised by the Despicable!)
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To: deport

The earth is not flat.

However, Mike Hughes is flat.


17 posted on 02/23/2020 7:29:04 AM PST by Meatspace
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To: Delta 21

Super Dave always survived albeit with a lot ohs and owws.


18 posted on 02/23/2020 7:29:47 AM PST by xp38
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To: StAntKnee

I can see it bringing out the nuts. Those were probably his last words.

“Nuts! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!”


19 posted on 02/23/2020 7:29:56 AM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death by cultsther)
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To: deport

Acme rocket?


20 posted on 02/23/2020 7:30:36 AM PST by Huskrrrr
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