Mike Hughes, who has recently come to believe the earth is flat, plans to launch a self-made, self-manned rocket 1,800 feet into the Mojave desert sky on Saturday as part of a quest to photograph the Earth.
The rocket will travel 500 miles per hour up about a mile above the California desert. Hughes previously traveled a quarter of a mile over Winkelman, Arizona, in a self-made rocket in 2014, but suffered injuries from the flight that had him using a walker for two weeks, The Washington Post reported.
Hughes converted to believing in a flat Earth while fundraising for Saturday’s flight, and Research Flat Earth is the main sponsor of his rocket, which cost the 61-year-old limousine driver $20,000 to build, The Associated Press reported.
He hopes a subsequent launch will enable him to get far enough away from the ground to take a photo of the Earth to prove it is indeed flat.
“I don’t believe in science,” Hughes told the AP. “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 rocket launch could be dangerous to Hughes because of G-forces that can cause extreme pressure on a person’s body during a flight and even make him pass out because of changes in blood pressure in different parts of the body, according to GoFlight Medicine. Loss of oxygen in the brain can cause seizures or even amnesia in some pilots.
Most professional pilots wear special suits to counteract G-forces and are taught breathing techniques to counteract their effects, GoFlight said.
Twitter users were amused by the story.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.