Daredevil Dies After Homemade Rocket Crashes in Desert

You may have heard of "Mad" Mike Hughes. The daredevil, stuntman, and self proclaimed Flat-Earther died early Saturday afternoon when his homemade rocket crashed on private property. ABC reports that Hughes launched himself into the air in an apparent stunt, only to spiral into the ground near Barstow, California. He was 64.

The launch was being filmed for a TV show called Homemade Astronauts.

One freelance journalist, who witnessed the event, says that the rocket may have rubbed against the launch apparatus, which may have torn the parachute attached to it. The Washington Post reports that his three other parachutes never deployed.

Hughes had attempted to launch himself before in an attempt to prove his theory that the world was flat. While the crudely constructed rockets he used were never designed for space travel, he had still hoped they'd serve their purpose to help him prove to people that the Earth was not a sphere floating in space like we were all taught in school.

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