Unusual but true: Flat-earther straps into homemade rocket

In our stories this week, we saw a California man who launched himself in a homemade rocket to prove the earth is flat, an orange snow blanketing eastern Europe, a 35-year old expectant mother who continues pole dancing, an adventurous cat who treks 1.5 miles every day for burger scraps, and an antiques fan who believes he has found Britain’s oldest Easter egg.

We’ve gathered all the interesting, odd anecdotes from around the world in our news review.

Man launches himself in homemade rocket to prove earth is flat

A daredevil inventor who believes the Earth is flat blasted himself around 570 meters into the air in a rocket before landing with a thump in Amboy, California, United States on March 24, Sky News reported.

‘Mad’ Mike Hughes, 61, a US limo driver from California, was slightly injured when his steam-powered rocket launch ended with a hard landing in the Mojave Desert on Saturday.

Hughes reached an estimated 350 miles per hour before activating his parachute. He was forced to deploy a second chute — as his rocket, emblazoned with the words “research flat earth”, was falling too fast.

Hughes uses his Facebook page to address those who doubt his rocket-making skills and his theory the Earth is flat.

“Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is,” he said in one video. “Do I know for sure? No. That’s why I want to go up in space.”

As hype around the experimental launch mounted, retired NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger told reporters he hoped Hughes “doesn’t blow something up”. Linenger, who orbited the globe more than 2,000 times over four months in 1997, added: “Rocketry, as our private space companies found out, isn’t as easy as it looks.”