ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

​Flat Earther 'Mad' Mike Hughes Has New Launch Date For Homemade Rocket

​Flat Earther 'Mad' Mike Hughes Has New Launch Date For Homemade Rocket

After that absolute fail of a first attempt, Hughes is back and apparently has a new launch date for the rocket - and it's soon

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Remember when Flat Earther 'Mad' Mike Hughes said he'd be launching into space in a homemade, steam-powered rocket so he could prove the entirety of the world's scientific community wrong? And remember when that totally didn't end up happening?

Well, after that absolute fail of a first attempt, Hughes is back and apparently has a new launch date for the rocket - and, excitingly, it's very soon: 3 February.

He was originally due to launch himself into the atmosphere in November, but, sadly for him, there were a couple of hitches.

The first was that the Californian resident didn't actually get the necessary permission for his little expedition. Although the owner of Amboy, the ghost town in the Mojave desert where Mr Hughes was going to launch from, had okayed his mission, federal authorities contacted him to say otherwise.

The second snag was that, as he was about to set off for on the expedition, his vehicle decided it didn't want to work. Classic.

Now, though the 61-year-old limo driver will be doing a few things a little differently, saying in a video posted to his Facebook page that he also wanted to 'set the record straight on a lot of things'.

"Did I do it just for the publicity or I was not a believer and just put it on the side of the rocket? That is not the case, okay?" he says in the video.

"I believe the world is a different shape than what we were taught."

He also explained that this time he'll be going for a vertical launch so that when the rocket lands it'll be on private property.

Youtube / Stellar Pictures Productions

"I don't believe in science," Hughes told AP last year. "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 cost him roughly $20,000 (£15,100) to build and the project is sponsored by the group Research Flat Earth. He expects to hit speeds of up to 500 MPH during his journey over Amboy, a ghost town in California.

"If you're not scared to death, you're an idiot," Hughes said. "It's scary as hell, but none of us are getting out of this world alive. I like to do extraordinary things that no one else can do, and no one in the history of mankind has designed, built, and launched himself in his own rocket."

Featured Image Credit: Youtube / Stellar Pictures Productions

Topics: Science, US News, space