Manned Rocket Flight to Prove Earth is Flat

[Ben]

Well, okay then...

https://www.sciencealert.com/man-launch-himself-in-homemade-rocket-to-prove-earth-is-flat

[KD5NRH]

• 1800 feet?  He could get higher with a Piper Cub.
• It's fairly simple to figure out that the same equations used to navigate on Earth will give much better results on a basketball than on a flat disc. Literally, not rocket science.

[Andiron]

$20 says he goes full lawn dart out in the desert.

[Scout26]

If he doesn't bring back turtle pics then we know it's not flat...

[HeroHog]

Where do I put my $20 on the Lawn Dart?

[MechAg94]

He built his first manned rocket in 2014, the Associated Press reported, and managed to fly a quarter-mile (0.4 km) over Winkelman, Ariz.

As seen in a YouTube video, the flight ended with Hughes being dragged, moaning from the remains of the rocket. The injuries he suffered put him in a walker for two weeks, he said.

And the 2014 flight was only a quarter of the distance of Saturday's mile-long (1.6 km-long) attempt.

And it was based on round-Earth technology.

I think Lawn Dart is the safe bet.

[HeroHog]

If he doesn't bring back turtle pics then we know it's not flat...

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[Regolith]

The optimist in me is hoping that he's just a guy who's really into rockets and trolling flat-earthers.

The cynic in me is expecting him to go all Kerbal Space Program and is getting some popcorn ready just in case. 

[230RN]

"atmosflat"

Cute.

<shakes head>

[freakazoid]

$20 says he goes full lawn dart out in the desert.

Which will be PROOF that the government/illuminate/reptiles peoples are keeping it all a secret!

[230RN]

Must be flat 'cause anywhere on earth that you drop something, it falls in the same direction.

[Hawkmoon]

I wonder if this video is of his manned test flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp2q_dKuc-c

Nothing like betting your life on a surplus parachute that's full of holes. It's a miracle that chute held together long enough for the rocket to land.

[AmbulanceDriver]

My $20 is on his pressure vessel failing before launch.

[makattak]

You know, maybe I'm CRAZY here, but wouldn't a digital camera, locator beacon, and a weather balloon be a lot cheaper and SAFER for this purpose?

[Ben]

You know, maybe I'm CRAZY here, but wouldn't a digital camera, locator beacon, and a weather balloon be a lot cheaper and SAFER for this purpose?

Somebody here posted a video a couple (or more?) years ago of a father/son project doing that with an iPhone. Super cool project and video, and as I recall, it got high enough that you could see curvature.

[dogmush]

Not sure steam would be my first choice for propulsion.  Lots of ways that can go painfully bad.  At least if solid fuel goes bad odds are high it won't hurt for very long.

My $20 is on his pressure vessel failing before launch.

One of the videos has him saying that launch pressure is 420psi, so not super crazy to get a vessel that holds it.

[griz]

I love that his rocket is steam powered. Gives it that Rube Goldberg flavor.

Anyway, it appears his goal is to take pictures miles above the flat disk we call home.  Besides the balloons already mention, the manned and unmanned rockets that have already done this, wouldn't it be cheaper and safer (as if that's a concern) to just buy a ticket for a commercial flight and take pictures out the window at 40,000 feet?

[K Frame]

Oh man, PLEASE tell me that he hires out for kiddy parties!

"$20 says he goes full lawn dart out in the desert."

Nope. Not taking that action, but truth be told, I'm expecting him to blow up on the pad.

[Hawkmoon]

Somebody here posted a video a couple (or more?) years ago of a father/son project doing that with an iPhone. Super cool project and video, and as I recall, it got high enough that you could see curvature.

And some other idiot strapped a gazillion supermarket helium balloons to a lawn chair and took a video of himself riding it to an altitude of a lot higher than I ever want to go in a lawn chair.

[230RN]

I see it all as a valid path to the California Democratic governorship.  A commenter mentioned that as one of his goals.  And at the risk of characterizing groups of people, well... umm.... crazy California, you know.

[French G.]

I've seen it stated that he doesn't believe in science. Well, a lot of science may be coming at you real fast guy.

[RocketMan]

Looking at some of the pictures of that thing he calls a rocket, well, it's going to be a short flight ending in a big mess.

[230RN]

Reminds me of the flap over the Phlogiston Theory of burning.  There were some pretty avid devotees of that theory for a lot longer than you'd expect, given the overwhelming incoming tide of contrary evidence.

Experienced chemists who supported [the] phlogiston theory attempted to respond to the challenges suggested by Lavoisier and the newer chemists. In doing so, phlogiston theory became more complicated and assumed too much, contributing to the overall demise of the theory.[16] Many people tried to remodel their theories on phlogiston in order to have the theory work with what Lavoisier was doing in his experiments. Pierre Macquer reworded his theory many times, and even though he is said to have thought the theory of phlogiston was doomed, he stood by phlogiston and tried to make the theory work.[19]

Come to think of it, it also reminds me of certain Leftists.  But that's another story of mental constipation.

Terry, 230RN

REF:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory#Challenge_and_demise

[Scout26]

The Feds just suck the fun out of everything:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-flat-earthers-plan-to-launch-himself-in-a-homemade-rocket-just-hit-a-speed-bump/ar-BBFBwAe?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=TSHDHP

[230RN]

A sort of "The Theory of Theories" video.  Long, but interesting in terms of the fact-fitting structure of knowledge in general.

https://youtu.be/VNqNnUJVcVs (10:30)

I liked the crossword puzzle example, 8:20 ff.