You've probably seen that Elon Musk and Space X blasted his old car into space using a huge rocket (the most powerful since ages ago) for a bit of a laugh the other day.
Well, it worked, and his Tesla Roadster is currently circling the globe with a mannequin in a space suit playing David Bowie's Space Oddity - although there is no sound in space, so there's not really any point other than to be clever.
Anyway, that's not what everyone should be interested in. There was another attempt at reaching space the other day, and it was made by a guy who is called 'Mad' Mike Hughes.
Mad Mike is a Flat Earther - which means that he genuinely thinks that the world is flat, instead of being a globe - which is what most scientists and everyone with half a brain tends to believe.
Well, instead of just going on the internet telling people to 'WAKE UP!!' and going on about how 'they' are hiding the truth from us behind some sort of giant ice wall, Mike is out to prove that the earth is flat himself.
To do that he intended to shoot himself and a rocket he built (with no formal training) into space.
They don't call him 'Mad' Mike for nothing.
Once up there, he planned to take photos that prove once and for all that he and the others aren't mad, they just aren't, like, fooled by the establishment, man.
You've gotta hand it to him. He could have just flown a balloon up there, or fired a rocket with a camera, but he wants to do it himself.
In 2016 he said in a Kickstarter video (he has to crowdfund his mission, unlike NASA):
"They have not put a man in space yet. There are 20 different space agencies here in America, and I'm the last person that's put a man in a rocket and launched it."
He's hit problems with governments, who - perhaps understandably - don't want him to blast off over public property. He's also encountered technical issues, such as his rockets not working.
This is what happened to him most recently.
He livestreamed the event though, which is lucky for us.
What followed was 11 minutes of watching a rocket with FLAT EARTH written on the side of it, not taking off - which, when you think about it, is kind of a metaphor for the whole movement, eh
Anyway, he nearly killed himself firing himself up in the air before now (he miraculously escaped pretty much unhurt) so Mike won't be stopped by this. In fact, he released a statement that said:
"The new actuator which is the part that stopped the launch will be complete this week and the new date will be kept a secret until a few hours before the launch"
Good luck and Godspeed 'Mad' Mike Hughes. I'll bet you Elon Musk is shitting himself.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook / PATopics: Viral, Science, Interesting, US News, space