Flat-Earther postpones homemade rocket's launch
A man who was going to launch himself in a homemade rocket to prove the Earth is flat has postponed his plans.
Not having the required federal permits plus mechanical problems with his "motorhome/rocket launcher" forced self-taught rocket scientist "Mad" Mike Hughes to put his experiment on hold.
"I don't believe in science," said Hughes, whose main sponsor for the rocket is Research Flat Earth. "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."
The 61-year-old is a limo driver and a self-taught rocket scientist.
He built a rocket out of salvage parts in his garage and planned to fly over a small ghost town in California. He planned to go about a mile - reaching an altitude of about 1,800 feet - before pulling two parachutes.
Down the road, he's intending to build a rocket that takes him to space, so he can snap a picture and see with his own eyes if the Earth is flat.
For flat-earthers, the Earth is shaped like a disk, with the North Pole at the center and a massive wall of ice holding our oceans back from flowing out into infinity. The theory has gained quite the following on the internet, including famous believer, rapper B.o.B.
Rapper B.o.B thinks Earth is flat, calls those who disagree 'sheep'
While a rocket launch may be fun, there are ways to tell we live on a globe without ever leaving it. Despite Christopher Columbus' confusion, people have known for more than 2,000 years that the Earth is round. This was long before satellites or even airplanes were invented.
The earliest recorded realization that the Earth is round dates back to famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, who noticed that moving north or south changed what stars he could see. Slightly later, a Greek mathematician named Eratosthenes estimated Earth's circumference based on differences in how high the sun rises in the sky at different latitudes-which is in itself a consequence of the Earth being round.
Modern science has allowed pilots, astronauts, and NASA scientists to all document that the Earth is round, but Hughes wants to see for himself.
NASA creating largest rocket ever
