"Mad" Mike Hughes' home-made rocket launches near Amboy, California credit: Matt Hartman via AP

“I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket. I'm tired of that stuff. I manned up and did it.”

Acknowledging how dangerous the mission was, he added: “This thing wants to kill you 10 different ways … This thing will kill you in a heartbeat.”

"Mad" Mike Hughes is carried on a stretcher after his home-made rocket launched and returned to the ground near credit: Matt Hartman via AP

Last year, the California native was forced to postpone a take off attempt from an abandoned runway in the ghost town of Amboy, located about 200 miles (321.85km) east of Los Angeles, due to his motorhome-slash-rocket launcher breaking down and problems getting a permit.

Mr Hughes has the support of the flat-Earth community, who helped fund the mission, and eventually wants to build a "Rockoon," - a rocket that is carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon - to take him about 68 miles up so he can photograph the planet from space.

The self-taught rocket scientist believes the Earth is flat credit: Facebook

“Do I believe the earth is shaped like a frisbee - or flat? I believe it is,” he said last year. “I cannot disprove it after my months of research. Do I know for sure? No. That’s why I want to go up into space 62 miles up to settle this thing once and for all for people who want to know.”

“My story really is incredible,” Hughes reflected after his mission. “It's got a bunch of story lines - the garage-built thing. I'm an older guy. It's out in the middle of nowhere, plus the Flat Earth. The problem is it brings out all the nuts also, people questioning everything. It's the downside of all this.”