Californian rocket man blasts himself 500m into sky
"Mad" Mike Hughes, the rocket man who believes the Earth is flat, propelled himself about 570 metres into the air before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert.
He told The Associated Press that outside of an aching back he's fine after the launch on Saturday near Amboy, California.
"Relieved," he said after being checked out by paramedics. "I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket. I'm tired of that stuff. I manned up and did it."
The launch in the desert town — about 320 kilometres east of Los Angeles — was originally scheduled in November.
It was scrubbed several times due to logistical issues with the Bureau of Land Management and mechanical problems that kept popping up.
The 61-year-old limo driver converted a mobile home into a ramp and modified it to launch from a vertical angle so he wouldn't fall back to the ground on public land.
For months he's been working on overhauling his rocket in his garage.
Hughes often sparred with his critics on social media leading up to the launch, through Facebook comments and a 12-minute video addressed to his doubters.
He's always maintained that his mission isn't to prove the Earth is flat.
"Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a frisbee? I believe it is," he said. "Do I know for sure? No. That's why I want to go up in space."
That's his project for down the road. He wants to build a "Rockoon," a rocket that is carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, then separated from the balloon and lit. This rocket would take Hughes about 100kms up.
