Mike Hughes, nicknamed Mad Mike, a well-known amateur engineer flying on makeshift rockets, died during one of his experiments on Saturday in the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported citing his agent.
Mad Mike was remembered by the general public for his faith in the theory of a flat Earth. In 2018, he told the Associated Press that the Earth was “Frisbee-shaped” and that he intended to fly into space to make sure it was.
On Saturday, Hughes planned to climb five thousand feet on his makeshift desert rocket near the town of Barstow, California. The event was supposed to be shown in the special program “Home Astronauts”.
The video of spectators who arrived to watch the launch captures the launch of his rocket, the parachute that did not work on time and the fatal fall of the amateur astronaut.
Mike’s agent suggested that Mike might have lost consciousness during the launch of the rocket and as a result did not activate the parachute. He fell 2600 feet from the place where the rocket was launched.
It is worth noting that Mike was going to launch his home-made steam rocket in August last year, but as a result, his plans were postponed.
For decades, Hughes has performed tricks from jumping in a limousine over long distances to flying on rockets made from improvised materials. In 2018, Mike’s rocket rose to a height of 1.9 thousand feet and then landed in the Mojave Desert.
