I wonder if he actually believes it's flat. It sounds to me like he might be just trying to get funding. These kinds of stunts are obviously his passion, but he repeatedly had trouble funding them. It's very convenient that his conversion just happened to get him the funding he spent years looking for. Playing the fool to fund his dream would be a clever marketing trick.

I have no evidence that he's not sincere, but I'm not convinced either.

Setting aside the flat Earth craziness, "amateur astronaut" is about the most badass hobby on the planet.

Claiming that you believe the earth is flat is definitly not the weirdest lie that's ever been told in pursuit of funding.

What would that be?

Anyways if you read the story, it's extremely suspicious how he suddenly became interested in the flat earth conspiracy in a request for funding. And if you wanted to prove the earth was flat a balloon, gopro-on-a-rocket, daylight hours, or just some big sticks with a buddy at a different latitude would be easier.

I would say "A fool and his money are soon parted. We are here to help." is a valid business model...

On the contrary, the flat earthers claim that all of those things can easily be done to prove that they’re correct. And/or they dispute the common arguments that appeal to results from those experiments.

This should (A) be thought of as an art project and (B) should be no. 1 on HN right now.

It’s hard to know what to make of flat earth rocketeers, but my instinctive response is “this world is kind of awesome”.

First (like another poster said perfectly), “amateur astronaut” is a badass pursuit. 2nd is the possibility that there is a person who (A) can and will build a rocketship and (B) can’t think of a better way to confirm that the earth is flat. I kind of want to believe this.

This (and maybe most flat earth stuff) is multi-layered. Maybe (most likely) this is just a good PR narrative for this guy’s rocket project. Didn’t RKA/NASA have semi-bogus scientific goals to justify pure engineering challenges? I think a lot of flat earth stuff is trolls, jokes, devils advocacy, cyber-age epistemology. If I let my self get ridiculously carried away, I’d say there are some parts of flat earth world that rhyme with weird (but at the time important) parts of the enlightenment. I’m thinking des cartes, maybe Kant, probably others too. In my own narrative, these eventually culminated in moderate, but very useful philosophy like that of Karl Popper.

I find it hard to encourage this kind of pursuit, when he seems to have difficulty with the danger aspects of this pursuit.

Last time he launched, he had difficulty deploying his chute and nearly died.

Would it not be easier to launch a camera of some kind? Or are cameras in on the conspiracy somehow?

"the glass is curved"

No, I'm not joking.

But the retina is curved too, so I am not sure there is even a way to convince flat-earthers?

But not on the ground.

It would also be easier to use a hot air balloon than a home-made rocket, but that wouldn't get you in the Washington Post, I guess.

There are buildings that go higher than 1,800 feet^. There are many kinds of vehicles that could complete this mission, with some available for charter at very affordable rates. This is all part of why this project is fantastic. It's nonsensical in an exciting way. I really hope he launches (and doesn't die). Hell, I hope he proves the earth is flat.

^ He does plan to go higher in future missions, just to be fair. This is not passive flat earthism. He's starting a flat earth space program, not being trapped on a disc forever.

> He does plan to go higher in future missions, just to be fair.

True. He may have to go a lot higher, in fact. The Flat Earth Society's FAQ claim that you would have to go higher than commercial airliners "to get even a hint of curvature if earth were round": https://wiki.tfes.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#As_a_passen...

You’re going to need to take a step back and examine the situation before you apply any more of that reason.

Hmmm....

Perhaps those closest to him agreed to not tell him that was an option.

What if he falls flat on his face, thus proving the Earth is indeed flat?

This man is obviously compromised by the government and not a true flat earth believer (sarcasm)

I have never had the urge to launch myself in a homemade rocket and would strongly recommend others not succumb to it if they get one, but I'm afraid it's too late for this fellow.

I do wonder if he'll tell his fellow flat earthers he saw the curve in the surface though.

And also how much he'll be charging for tickets to watch him launch.

I played enough Kerbal Space Program to be confident in my ability to navigate a rocket to the moon.

I'm also confident I would create a red smear on the launch pad for the first 30 tries then suffocate in space or smear the moon for the next 30.

That's a really brave man. He will most likely hit his head on the blue heaven and loose consciousness up when hitting the top. Maybe he will even hit a cloud. I hope he is prepared with a parachute.

He's only going up to 1800 feet, it sounds like. It seems like a flight on a jet would be cheaper and more effective.

Or a cessna flight to 12000? Or hang a go-pro from a balloon like scores of kids on the internet.

I have my doubts that his orbiter has the delta-V to make it into orbit. He needs more boosters and far more struts.

The best thing about this is that earth's curvature can be seen on his video on his website. Aghhh!

http://madmikehughes.com/

why not just pick a direction and start travelling. How does this theory even work, do they have notions of where (they believe) the edges are?

If I understand correctly, the "standard" theory is that the edges are walls of ice in Antarctica. Rather than the ocean surrounding Antarctica, it is Antarctica that surrounds the ocean that surrounds all the rest of the land.

As for what is beyond the walls of ice... That's for another rocket to find out.

We all know that beyond the wall of ice is the Night King and the army of the dead.

But hasn't the wall fallen?

Spoilers! Remember the spoiler rules: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8IAhI-B6UU (apparently you are fine). Winter is here.

Yup, walls of ice, that's it. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Orlando-...

So... if you climb over, you get to space? That would be so awesome

I still imagine that it is Turtles all the way down.