de
BACK
X
Register / Login
- magazines
- stories
- newspapers
- offers
- corporate offers
- srz
- help
- redeem coupon
- gift cards
- download app
- Argentina Australia Austria Bangladesh Brazil Canada Chile China Costa Rica Croatia Czech Republic France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Kenya Malaysia Mexico Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Oman Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Vietnam Zambia
- English(UK)
- Japanese
- German
- Spanish
- Turkish
- Arabic
- Zeitschriften
- Newspapers
- Stories
- Download App
- US
- My Profile
- My Purchases
- My Favorites
- Family Sharing
Logout
- Zeitschriften
- Newspapers
- Stories
- Download App
The New Yorker
|
April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue)
Dont believe what theyre telling you about misinformation.
-MANVIR SINGH
Millions of people have watched Mike Hughes die. It happened on February 22, 2020, not far from Highway 247 near the Mojave Desert city of Barstow, California. A homemade rocket ship with Hughes strapped in it took off from a launching pad mounted on a truck. A trail of steam billowed behind the rocket as it swerved and then shot upward, adetached parachute unfurling ominously in its wake. In a video recorded by the journalist Justin Chapman, Hughes disappears into the sky, a dark pinpoint in a vast, uncaring blueness. But then the rocket reappears and hurtles toward the ground, crashing, after ten long seconds, in a dusty cloud half a mile away.
Hughes was among the best-known proponents of Flat Earth theory, which insists that our planet is not spherical but a Frisbee-like disk. He had built and flown in two rockets before, one in 2014 and another in 2018, and he planned to construct a “rockoon,” a combination rocket and balloon, that would carry him above the upper atmosphere, where he could see the Earth’s flatness for himself. The 2020 takeoff, staged for the Science Channel series “Homemade Astronauts,” was supposed to take him a mile up—not high enough to see the Earth’s curvature but hype-worthy enough to garner more funding and attention.
Flat Earth theory may sound like one of those deliberately far-fetched satires, akin to Birds Aren’t Real, but it h
This story is from the April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) edition of The New Yorker.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
- View All
RECENT STORIES FROM The New Yorker
- The New Yorker Profiles – Mr. Vengeance The director of "Oldboy” and "The Handmaiden” brings his gift for spectacle to American television. 38 mins April 15, 2024 The New Yorker A Reporter at Large – The Assault One of Ukraine's most skilled fighting units battles beneath a canopy of drones. 53 mins April 15, 2024 The New Yorker SNAP JUDGMENTS Is it the end of the world if Kirsten Dunst isn’t around to witness it? I’m beginning to wonder. 6 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker BLEEDING HEART Olivia Rodrigo’s exuberant yearning. 5 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker WARP SPEED Anni Albers helped establish weaving as art—then left it behind. 6 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker THE MISSING LINK How Delmore Schwartz tried to change poetry. 14 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker LOVE MACHINES Why stories about robotic romance push our buttons. 10 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker HOW GULLIBLE ARE YOU? Dont believe what theyre telling you about misinformation. 15 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker GET REAL How video-game engines became the invisible infrastructure of our world. 34 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue) The New Yorker FLIGHT OF FANCY Flying cars have long been a symbol of a future that never came. Are they finally here? 37 mins April 22 - 29, 2024 (Double Issue)
- View All
RELATED STORIES
- Elle Decor US This Is California A 1950s house in Ojai taps childhood memories of the Golden State for designers Nathan Turner and Eric Hughes 3 mins April 2024 Scoop USA Newspaper Honoring a long fight for Truth and Justice On October 9, Hughes Van Ellis, who was one of the last three known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, passed away at age 102. 3 mins October 27, 2023 Vanity Fair US Reign SUPREME Chief Justice John Roberts insists he’s taken the reins of the Supreme Court. But the institution may be too far gone 6 mins November 2023 Vogue US American Pastoral While her contemporaries were focused on the figure, Shara Hughes uncovered new ground in landscape painting. 9 mins September 2023 Bloomberg Businessweek So You Want to Start a Nonracist Bank A Wall Street lifer’s quixotic quest to build a truly inclusive finance company 17 mins March 21 - 28, 2022 (Double Issue) Bass Player FLOWER POWER The Dead Daisies is a supergroup with a stellar line-up, in which the great Glenn Hughes brings a career’s worth of songwriting, singing and playing bass to the table. “I’ve fallen in love with bass again,” says our hero, looking back at his days with Deep Purple, Trapeze, Black Country Communion, and more... 12 mins January 2021 Bills Digest Hughes stepping up in more ways than one With the Bills desperate for a spark on the defensive side of the ball, Jerry Hughes has stepped up on the field in recent weeks. He’s stepped up off the field, as well. 1 mins November 15, 2020 Soap Opera Digest EXIT Strategy The Inside Story Of How Finola Hughes (Anna, GH) rought A New Thriller To Life During Quarantine. 9 mins September 21, 2020