A man, described as a 'self-taught rocket scientist', is preparing to prove astronauts fabricated the fact the Earth is round by launching himself in a homemade rocket.
Seeking to prove that a conspiracy of astronauts fabricated the shape of the Earth, a California man intends to launch himself 1,800 feet high on Saturday in a rocket he built from scrap metal.
'Mad' Mike Hughes plans to launch himself 1,800 feet (550 metres) high in his scrap metal contraption and fly through the air at 500mph (800kph) above the Mojave desert.
“It’ll shut the door on this ball earth,” Hughes said in a fundraising interview with a flat-Earth group for Saturday’s flight. Theories discussed during the interview included NASA being controlled by round-Earth Freemasons and Elon Musk making fake rockets from blimps.
Ultimately, the 61-year-old limo driver's goal is to get 10 miles high so he can prove the Earth is disc-shaped and this weekend's flight marks the first step in his bizarre flat-Earth space program.
Mr Hughes has spent the last few years building a steam-powered rocket out of salvage parts in his garage.
He built his first manned rocket in 2014, the Associated Press reported, and managed to fly a quarter-mile over Winkelman, Ariz.
As seen in the above YouTube video, the flight ended with Hughes being dragged, moaning from the remains of the rocket. The injuries he suffered put him in a wheelchair for two weeks, he said.
His project has cost him $20,000 (£15,000), which includes Rust-Oleum paint to fancy it up and a motor home he bought on Craigslist that he converted into a ramp.
He plans to strap into his homemade contraption and hurtle over the ghost town of Amboy, which has a population of four, in the Mojave Desert and along historic Route 66.
'I don't believe in science,' said Hughes, whose main sponsor for the rocket is Research Flat Earth.
'It'll shut the door on this ball Earth', he said in a fundraising video, while explaining that NASA is controlled by round-Earth Freemasons and Elon Musk is making fake rockets.
Down the line, he's intending to build a rocket that takes him to space, so he can snap a picture and prove with his own eyes that the Earth is flat.
Mad Mike is hoping to find proof that a conspiracy of powerful secret organisations have been hiding the 'true' structure of the world.
'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', said Mr Hughes.
'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.
We may well have a strong candidate for next years Darwin Awards here.