Michael Hughes

{{pseudoastronomy}}
'''Michael "Mad Mike" Hughes''' {{lived|c. 1956<ref>[http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2016-03-29/daredevil-delays-jump-over-palo-duro-canyon Daredevil delays jump over Palo Duro Canyon] by Lance Lahnert (July 21, 2016 01:11 am — Updated March 29, 2016 06:00 pm) ''Amarillo Globe-News''.</ref>|2020<ref name=silverman>[https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/22/us/science-channel-mike-hughes-dead/index.html Daredevil 'Mad Mike' Hughes dies while attempting to launch a homemade rocket] by Hollie Silverman (Updated 11:46 PM ET, Sat February 22, 2020) ''CNN''.</ref>}} was a publicity hound ("the world's most famous limo driver"<ref name=LCT>[https://www.lctmag.com/blogpost/lctblog/100179/the-latest-on-mad-mike The Latest on Mad Mike] (March 24, 2008) ''LCT Magazine''.</ref>), a [[flat Earth]]er, and [[conspiracy theorist]]. Not much is known publicly about Hughes before he took up a career as a limousine driver in 1996,<ref name=LCT/> but that and being involved with NASCAR racing<ref>''What Does A limo Driver Know About NASCAR?'' by Michael Hughes (2007) self-published. ISBN 1934379182.</ref> were basically his entrée into flat Eartherism. In 2002, Hughes set a record for jumping a stretch limousine into the air for a distance of 103 feet.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091007093840/http://www.madmikehughes.com:80/news3.html World Record Jump] Mad Mike Hughes (archived from October 7, 2009).</ref>

In 2010, Hughes planned to jump his "X-2 SkyLimo" using a {{wpl|steam rocket}} and recreate his hero {{wpl|Evel Knievel||'s}} jump over the Snake River Canyon.<ref name=mad1>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091006081921/http://www.madmikehughes.com/ Mad Mike Hughes LIVE via TodoCast.TV Pay Per View 01 - 01 - 10] (archived from October 6, 2009)</ref> After many unexplained postponements, X-2 SkyLimo was launched on January 30, 2014 and reached 1,374 feet elevation.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp2q_dKuc-c&list=PL4UwN9Gt_b_Hvpt2XJ6h0dW8-HxhLdjyJ Mad' Mike Hughes Rocket Flight] by Flat Earth News (Sep 28, 2015) ''YouTube''</ref><ref name=mad2>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140517191541/http://madmikehughes.com/ Mad Mike Hughes] (archived from May 17, 2014).</ref> By May 2014, Hughes announced a planned  second launch for June 28, 2014,<ref name=mad2/> which did not happen.

On March 30, 2016, Hughes told ''Ars Technica'' about some very sketchy plans to take "a balloon up to 20,000 feet or so with a rocket strapped to his shoulders, releasing the balloon, and flying all the way to 62 miles above the planet, into outer space, before coming back to Earth."<ref>[https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/03/mad-mike-postpones-texas-canyon-jump-after-brutal-rocket-tests/ Mad Mike postpones Texas canyon jump after "brutal" rocket tests: The would-be King of the Daredevils wants to ensure the "bad boy" doesn't misfire.] by Eric Berger — 3/30/2016, 10:10 AM) ''Ars Technica''.</ref> Balloon-rocket hybrids, while technically feasible, have both substantial limitations and complications.<ref>{{wpa|Non-rocket spacelaunch#Balloon}}</ref>

On June 11, 2017, Hughes had a phone interview with flat Earther "Infinite Plane Society".<ref name=interview>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP1VBisokkk Mad Mike Hughes Interview on Infinite Plane Society LIVE] by The Daily Plane DOTcom (Jun 11, 2017) ''YouTube''.</ref> In the interview, Hughes made the following remarks, demonstrating his [[crank magnetism]]:
*He said he was a flat Earther.<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 7:30)}}
*"John Glenn and Neil Armstrong are [[Freemasons]]. Once you understand that, you understand the roots of the deception [of 'ball Earth']."<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 7:38)}}<ref name=wang>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/27/a-flat-earthers-plan-to-launch-himself-in-a-homemade-rocket-has-been-postponed-again/ A flat-Earther's plan to launch himself in a homemade rocket has been postponed — again] by Amy B Wang and Avi Selk (November 27, 2017) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*The 1967 death of {{wpl|Thomas Baron||,}} a [[NASA]] safety inspector was suspicious despite evidence to the contrary (Baron was not censored and a forensic report ruled that his death was an accident).<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 7:50)}}<ref>[https://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/barron.html Baron Report (1965-1966)] NASA Historical Reference Collection</ref>
*NASA astronauts were murdered rather than dying in accidents.<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 8:40)}}
*One's name on documents does represent not oneself (i.e. [[Freeman on the land]] nonsense).<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 9:35)}} Hughes claimed to own the "legal person[s]" named [[Obama]], [[Charles Manson]], [[Elon Musk]], Warren Buffett, and OJ Simpson.<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 9:50)}}
*There is both [[antichrist]] and [[Illuminati]] symbolism on the walls of the [[Denver Airport conspiracy theories|Denver Airport]].<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 12:16)}}
*He hinted that [[Barack Obama#Islam|Barack ''Hussein'' Obama is a Muslim]].<ref name=interview/>{{rp|(at time 14:05)}}

Subsequent to this interview and a small amount of funding via Gofundme ($7895),<ref>[https://www.gofundme.com/flat-earth-community-rocket-launch Flat Earth Community Rocket Launch] Gofundme</ref> Hughes began including "Research Flat Earth" on his rocket sponsorships.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170924152608/http://madmikehughes.com/ Mad Mike Hughes] (archived from September 24, 2017)</ref>

On November 20, 2017, Hughes fulfilled his longtime goal of becoming famous, though perhaps not as he had originally planned, with his first national news article on his wacky flat Earth beliefs.<ref name=graham>[https://apnews.com/9d8e5e8e9245412ab80f5a1f58d885b7 Self-taught rocket scientist plans to launch over ghost town] by Pat Graham (Nov. 20, 2017) ''Associated Press''.</ref> He proclaimed his disjunction with reality:<ref name=graham/>
{{cquote|[[Anti-science|I don't believe in science.]] 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]].}}
Hughes stated that the launch would be November 25, 2017, and he would plan to reach an altitude of 1800 feet at 500 miles/hour,<ref name=graham/><ref name=wang/> only 500 feet higher and 150 miles/hour faster than his previous launch. The launch was postponed indefinitely because, despite his claims,<ref name=graham/> he did not have permission from the Bureau of Land Management which was required because the planned launch was to be over BLM lands.<ref name=wang/> He tried again to launch his rocket on February 3, 2018, but failed to even get it off the ground.<ref>Rafi Letzter, [https://www.livescience.com/61653-mad-mike-hughes-launch-fail.html Flat-Earth Rocketeer Fails to Launch (Again).] livescience.com, 5 February 2018.</ref> He finally managed to get his rocket into the air in March 2018 and survived although he was bumped and bruised.<ref>Tom McKay, [https://gizmodo.com/at-long-last-flat-earth-rocketeer-finally-manages-to-b-1824059035 At Long Last, Flat Earth Rocketeer Finally Manages to Blast Himself Into Sky at God Knows What Speed.] Gizmodo, March 25, 2018.</ref>

[[File:Erdkrümmung, Alexander Dahl vom 31.8.1933.jpg|thumb|right|165px|The first image showing the Earth's curvature, from 1933]]
By November 3, 2016, the rocket technology had not changed.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161103011047/http://madmikehughes.com/news4.html X-2 SkyLimo Rocket] Mad Mike Hughes (archived from November 3, 2016)</ref> Since Hughes had taken the flat Earth "red pill",<ref name=interview/> it was unclear what he could possibly prove:
*His rockets were only capable of reaching an elevation of 2000 feet or so, not even taller than foothills. Mount Everest is more than 29,000 feet elevation (8,848m).
*Steam rockets are characterized by low performance,<ref name=steam>{{wpa|Steam rocket}}</ref> so they are probably entirely unsuitable for launching objects into Earth orbit, which generally requires a thrust of 2,500 to 4,500 m/s (9,000 to 16,200 km/h; 5,600 to 10,100 mph).<ref name=steam/> The X-2 SkyLimo was claimed to be able to reach a velocity of only 350 miles/hour.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091007093845/http://www.madmikehughes.com:80/news4.html X-2 SkyLimo Rocket] Mad Mike Hughes (archived from October 7, 2009).</ref>
*Even if one accepts his mad claim of a NASA conspiracy to hide the flat Earth, there was already photographic evidence of the curvature of the Earth in 1933 based on a balloon flight that reached 11,300m. {{cn}} Hughes' balloon-rocket fantasy is entirely unnecessary: just send a balloon up to about 11,300m and take a photo to confirm or refute the earliest evidence. Two men have subsequently traveled much higher using balloons, {{wpl|Joseph Kittinger}} (31,300m in 1960) and {{wpl|Felix Baumgartner}} (38,969m in 2012).

Hughes died in 2020 following a crash from an attempted rocket launch.<ref name=silverman/><ref>[https://www.polygraph.info/a/flat-earth-believer-mad-mike-hughes-dies-in-diy-rocket-crash/30454704.html Deadly Disinfo: How the Flat Earth Conspiracy Doomed an Amateur Rocketeer]. polygraph.info, 25 February 2020.</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.madmikehughes.com/ Mad Mike Hughes]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20171121232208/https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1441636269/mission-rock-it-stage-i-the-1-mile-manned-rocket-j?ref=discovery Mission Rock It! — Stage I "The 1 Mile Manned Rocket Jump": Mad Mike Hughes always wanted to be famous so much that he just decided one day to build a steam rocket and set the world record.] — a Kickstarter campaign launched on around November 21, 2017 that made no mention of flat Earth (archived from November 21, 2017)

==References==
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[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Pseudolaw]]
[[Category:Flat Earth]]

Categories: Conspiracy theories, Conspiracy theorists, Pseudolaw, Flat Earth