Update 11/24/17:
Mike Hughes has been forced to push his launch (attempted suicide) back a couple days due to two issues: Clearance from the Bureau of Land Management (since his original launch site was on public land) and a broken motor in his mobile launch center (modified mobile home).
The speed bump with the permission from the BLM was contingent on approval from the Federal Aviation Administration since obviously the FAA needs to make sure Hughes flight path does not interfere with other aircraft.
Neither agency has commented on what the exact hiccup is, but Hughes has found a way to circumvent the issue by moving his launch site to a private property near his original site.
“It’s still happening. We’re just moving it three miles down the road,” Hughes told The Washington Post on Friday. “This is what happens any time you have to deal with any kind of government agency.”
What is that I just smelled? Could it be the stench of a government cover-up???
Hughes plans on his re-scheduled launch happening sometime around Tuesday, so we will be checking Wednesday’s obituaries to see how his flight went.
My Original title for this was “California Man Plans Launch In Homemade Rocket To Prove He Is Really Wile E. Coyote”.
Mike Hughes, a 61-year-old limousine driver with no official engineering experience, is planning to launch himself over the Mojave desert in his homemade rocket this Saturday. It is his first step toward proving the “world is flat” and to “shut the door on this ball Earth” theory.
He hopes his homemade steam-powered rocket (launched from it’s base of a heavily converted mobile home) will reach an altitude of 1,800 ft and safely fall back to the flat Earth below.
Hughes longterm goal is to launch himself a mile up into the atmosphere and take a picture of the disc shaped Earth below.
No one is entirely sure what a flat or disc shaped Earth would look like from space. Maybe a ring of ice holds in the oceans?
To assist with funding the $20,000 rocket, he has enlisted the help of the flat Earth community through social media and crowd funding sites such as GoFundMe.com.
The entrepreneur has even started a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to raise $150,000 for his quest. The campaign is currently hovering around $310 with 2 backers.
“We were kind of looking for new sponsors for this. And I’m a believer in the flat Earth,” Hughes said. “I researched it for several months.”
No word yet if either of Kickstarter backers is the “ACME” brand made famous in Looney Toons videos Hughes may have mistaken as “instructional videos”.
In this video of his third test fire of the rocket engine, his crew was able to successfully test fire the engine, after spending around 45 seconds trying to determine whether or not the camera was turned on (even comically waving a hand over the lens as a sure fire camera test).
It is important to note that Hughes will not be able to fully test his rocket prior to strapping himself in for the 500 MPH flight this Saturday but he does plan on tinkering with it right up until countdown.
But don’t sell the determination of Mad Mike Hughes short however, per Ars Technica, he is a Guinness World Record holder for a limousine jump in 2002!
All joking and sarcasm aside, I do wish Mr. Hughes a successful launch and safe landing…in his rocket built upon round Earth science.
Please check back next week as we plan on updating with post launch news!
Geeky Daddy 
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