As freelance journalist Justin Chapman told NPR, the goal of such expeditions was not so much to prove that the earth was flat, as it was to bring attention to the Flat Earth “cause.” (A representative for Hughes also confirmed this in a statement to BuzzFeed, saying he did not actually believe in the theory and that “we used flat Earth as a PR stunt. He was closely associated with the Flat Earth movement, hosting a show on the internet radio station Flat Earth Radio and raising thousands of dollars on GoFundMe in Flat Earth-assisted crowdfunding campaigns. I believe the truth is worth taking risks for.”Ī former stuntman, Hughes had done two rocket launches prior to his death, one in 2014 and one in 2018, from which he emerged without major incident. “For me, Flat Earth is bigger than my friends and family and even my own life. Hughes’ death “just reinforced my mantra - meaning, what are you willing to do if you believe in something so much?” Mark Sargent, a self-described Flat Earth recruiter who was featured in the 2018 Netflix documentary Behind the Curve, tells Rolling Stone. Far from prompting people to re-examine their own beliefs, if anything Hughes’ death cemented their commitment to chasing what they believe to be the truth at any cost. Neither reactions, however, were present within the Flat Earth community itself. Others were more somber, stating that his passing was proof of the dangers of believing wholeheartedly in dangerous anti-scientific beliefs. On social media, many outside the community poked fun at Hughes’ death, referring to him as a “ Darwin Award nominee” and joking that his death was in itself proof of the effect of gravity. In numerous interviews, he had stated that the goal of his rocket launches was to prove that the planet was not spherical (as, again, all scientific evidence indicates), but “Frisbee-shaped.” Hughes was a member of the Flat Earth community, a subculture consisting of people who (despite all scientific evidence pointing squarely to the contrary) believe that the Earth is not round, but flat.

On Saturday, 64-year-old “Mad” Mike Hughes was killed when a rocket he was attached to crashed in the desert in San Bernardino County, California.

Flat earther launches rocket