He finally went up - just as the self-taught rocket scientist always pledged he would.
He came back down in one piece, too - a little dinged up and his steam-powered 'rocket' a little cracked up.
Still, mission accomplished for a guy more daredevil than engineer.
"Mad" Mike Hughes, the rocket man who believes the Earth is flat, propelled himself about 571 metres into the air before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert.
Hughes, a limo driver, converted a mobile home into a ramp and modified it to launch from a vertical angle.
For months he's been working on overhauling his rocket in his garage.
Take-off was originally scheduled for late last year but was averted for technical reasons.
Now, he's done what he set out to do.
He says apart from an aching back he's fine after the launch, in California.
There's no word yet on whether he proved his theory right - or whether he discovered the truth about the earth's shape.
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