An Apple Valley man finally launched his rocket—and himself—into the air Saturday and lived to talk about it afterward. Sometime after 3 p.m., “Mad” Mike Hughes climbed into his steam-powered rocket, and without any sort of countdown, blasted upwards an estimated 1,875 feet before falling back to Earth on the outskirts of Amboy. Hughes deployed two parachutes on the descent but still experienced a hard landing and the rocket’s nose broke into two pieces on landing, as it was designed to do. Hughes told reporters he felt a little “clobbered” after his launch, but was “relieved” to have finally done it. He said he was tired of people saying he had “chickened out,” so he “manned up and did it.” Hughes’ rocket launch was originally scheduled for last November but Hughes cancelled it numerous times due to weather conditions, logistical and mechanical issues, and problems with the Bureau of Land Management.
