BARSTOW — “Mad” Mike Hughes, the self-taught rocket builder noted for his highly contrarian views, was killed after a homemade rocket he was riding crashed into the desert Saturday afternoon, TMZ reported and later confirmed. He was 64.

Deputies responded to an event on private property off Highway 247 just before 2 p.m., according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

“A man was pronounced deceased after the rocket crashed in the open desert during a rocket launch event,” the statement read.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Cindy Bachman said that once an identification is confirmed, the man’s name will be released.

Hughes had emailed the Daily Press earlier this week saying he was planning a rocket launch in Barstow on Saturday.

The Apple Valley daredevil, who set a Guinness World Record in 2002 for the longest limousine jump, gained international attention when he announced his intent to prove one of his many theories in a rocket launch: that the Earth is flat.

In a 2019 documentary about Hughes titled “Rocketman: Mad Mike’s Mission to Prove the Flat Earth,” he appeared to show a distrust for anyone’s explanation other than his own direct experience.

“I’m not going to take anyone else’s word for it, or NASA, or especially Elon Musk with SpaceX,” he said. “I’m going to build my own rocket right here and I’m going to see it with my own eyes what shape this world we live on.”

On March 24, 2018, powered by 77 gallons of superheated water, Hughes propelled himself 1,875 feet into the air with a steam-powered rocket before taking a hard landing near the town of Amboy.

Hughes told the Daily Press after he had spent $30,000 over the last 10 years building rockets and that the launch seemed to inspire the people who watched.

“Everyone’s still talking about it," Hughes said. “Grown men had that look in their eyes. They saw something spectacular by something a man built in his garage.”

Still, he received heated backlash for his beliefs, such as a flat Earth and questioning the existence of gravity. Hughes also caused a stir locally when he asked the Apple Valley Town Council in 2018 to “abolish” Roy Rogers’ name from the town for being a Freemason.

The local daredevil had told a reporter last year he was in the middle of filming a television show for the Science Channel.

Saturday’s launch may have been related to the proposed series, titled “Homemade Astronauts,” according to a Space.com article.

Hughes and his partner Waldo Stakes were going to attempt to reach 5,000 feet, or almost a mile, which would’ve been the highest altitude Hughes had ever reached.

A video on TMZ.com showed the rocket taking off, when what appears to be a tattered parachute falls off as it soars into the sky.

The rocket can then be seen plummeting rapidly before hitting the ground in a cloud of dust. People can be heard crying out after the impact.

Although many of his critics seemed to accuse him of promoting his views as only a way to publicize himself, in an interview last year with this paper, Hughes seemed to view his mission in another way.

“I just want people to know this: it’s about inspiring other people to do great things in your life,” he said. “Stay off your phone, stay off your video games and go do something real. Just don’t believe stuff that you’ve been force fed all your life.”

However, Hughes appeared to be well aware of the dangers of his craft.

“If you’re not scared to death, you’re an idiot,” he told the Associated Press in 2017. “It’s scary as hell, but none of us are getting out of this world alive.”

Martin Estacio may be reached at MEstacio@VVDailyPress.com or at 760-955-5358. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.