---
title: "Guy Builds Rocket to Prove Earth Is Flat, Crashes It, Dies"
description: "This weekend, a flat Earth conspiracy theorist launched himself in a homemade rocket — and crashed a minute later, dying in the wreck."
date: "2020-02-24"
modified: "2020-02-24"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/guy-builds-rocket-earth-flat-crashes-dies"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "conspiracy theories"
  - "mike hughes"
  - "rocketry"
  - "the digest"
---

# Guy Builds Rocket to Prove Earth Is Flat, Crashes It, Dies

![This weekend, a flat Earth conspiracy theorist launched himself in a homemade rocket — and crashed a minute later, dying in the wreck.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/guy-builds-rocket-earth-flat-crashes-dies.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Sot2018\</em\>*

## Mad Mike

For years, a daredevil named Mike "Mad Mike" Hughes has been [trumpeting his plan](<https://apnews.com/9d8e5e8e9245412ab80f5a1f58d885b7/Self-taught-rocket-scientist-plans-to-launch-over-ghost-town>) to launch himself in a homemade rocket in order to prove that Earth is flat.

This weekend, Hughes finally launched himself in his homemade rocket — and crashed a minute later, [dying in the wreck](<https://www.npr.org/2020/02/23/808645524/daredevil-mad-mike-hughes-killed-in-crash-of-homemade-rocket>).

## Ignoble End

Had he survived Saturday's launch, the 64-year-old Hughes' [eventual plan](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/02/23/mad-mike-hughes-dead/>) had been to float his home-brewed rocket miles-high from the ground, using a balloon, then launching it to a height of 62 miles in order to film evidence that the Earth is actually flat — a common conspiracy theory online.

"I don't believe in science," he [told the *Associated Press*](<https://apnews.com/9d8e5e8e9245412ab80f5a1f58d885b7/Self-taught-rocket-scientist-plans-to-launch-over-ghost-town>) in 2017, as he was planning an earlier launch.

## Cartoon Logic

It was a grim end for the amateur rocketeer, but in retrospect, one with an eerie foreshadowing by Hughes himself.

"Sometimes, I feel like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, when he suddenly runs off a cliff," Hughes [told the *LA Times*](<https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/189807410/>) back in 2003. "But it’s the price I pay for a life that’s not boring."

**READ MORE:** [Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Killed In Crash Of Homemade Rocket](<https://www.npr.org/2020/02/23/808645524/daredevil-mad-mike-hughes-killed-in-crash-of-homemade-rocket>) \[*NPR*\]

**More on rockets:** *[SpaceX Is Going to Blow up a Falcon 9 Rocket Just After Launch](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-blow-falcon-9-rocket-launch>)*

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)