Mike Huges is at it again; RIP 22 Feb 2020

[Shpaget]

Unfortunately, it was pretty obvious to all of us that this was going to be the most likely outcome of his endeavours. Rocket engineers test their contraptions for a reason, and they stand way back while testing.

I wasn't able to find any info on the backup chute. Anybody else managed to dig something out?

RIP Mike.

[kerbiloid]

  

27 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

I wasn't able to find any info on the backup chute. Anybody else managed to dig something out?

At 01:10 the second chute is opened before the touchdown.

Spoiler

 

 

[mikegarrison]

4 hours ago, K^2 said:

I cannot think of a more Kerbal way to go. His parachute fired together with his engine.

Yes, "check your staging".

[RealKerbal3x]

Flight Results

Outcome: Catastrophic Failure!

[00:00:00]: Liftoff!
[00:00:02]: Separation of stage 1 confirmed.
[00:00:05]: Mike Hughes went on EVA.
[00:00:08]: Mike Hughes collided into Terrain.
[00:00:08]: Mike Hughes was killed.

[Delay]

I guess you could say he died doing what he loved.
Makes this whole thing at least a little better, because while we do not agree with his motives let's all keep in mind that a fellow human being died here.

[Just Jim]

I'm not surprised, just sad... He might have been totally nuts, but part of me still really admires him.
He built his own rockets... I mean, come on, crazy or not, that just about as Kerbal as it gets....

Edited February 23, 2020 by Just Jim

[Shpaget]

3 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

  

At 01:10 the second chute is opened before the touchdown.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

That's his previous launch (2018), the one where he injured his back.

[sh1pman]

1 minute ago, Delay said:

fellow human being died here.

Rocketry enthusiast as well. RIP. At least it was quick.

[kerbiloid]

1 minute ago, Shpaget said:

That's his previous launch (2018), the one where he injured his back.

Yes, but the talk was about the parachute system.

[cantab]

Space is hard.

Mad Mike, you will be missed.

[Atlessa]

Didn't check his staging...

 

May he Rest in Peace.

 

 

  

On 8/13/2019 at 12:24 AM, GDJ said:

I have standing bet with a few others on how hard he's going to pancake on the desert floor.

So now that it's happened...  who won?

Edited February 23, 2020 by Atlessa

[GDJ]

3 hours ago, Atlessa said:

So now that it's happened...  who won?

I'll let you know. I don't think I did.

[sh1pman]

So, in the end, the Earth proved that Mike Hughes is... flat.

Spoiler

Sorry!

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by sh1pman

[magnemoe]

11 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

  

At 01:10 the second chute is opened before the touchdown.

  Hide contents

 

 

that one was a bit weird, because of the sound and the thing flying off it looked like the parachute was deployed with some sort of pyrotechnic. Might also be high pressure air. 
However why was the second parachute so late, was they both supposed to go off automatic and one failed and was used manual then he understood only one was out or had he problem activating it like if knocked out or dizzy after launch. 

For the final flight its totally kerbal as other pointed out. 

However, its pretty easy to make something who never blow up before they should like the safety in the fuses on bombs, this however cause some cluster bomb sub-munition not arm. 
Or make something who is totally safe like elevators who tend to stand because technical problems because of the safety system pretty often. 

Making something who combine both and never go off before they should and always work is hard, it can be done like airbags but its hard on an shoestring project and probably limited experience. 

[kerbiloid]

4 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

However why was the second parachute so late

I guess, he first opened one as a drogue chute to avoid sudden tug and high acceleration, while the second one complements it to a full area twin chute.

4 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

ooked like the parachute was deployed with some sort of pyrotechnic

Maybe a mortar, maybe a compressed air mortar, maybe some base jumping chute (I guess, it's probable as he was a stunt performer).

Edited February 23, 2020 by kerbiloid

[mikegarrison]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

Maybe a mortar, maybe a compressed air mortar, maybe some base jumping chute (I guess, it's probable as he was a stunt performer).

The second chute definitely looked like it was fired out by a rocket or a pyrotechnic. He didn't activate it this time, which means either it didn't work or possibly he was unconscious. Since he fractured his spine the last time with two chutes, it already should have been clear that this was a weak point for his safety.

[StrandedonEarth]

You’d think the weak point for his safety would be making himself the payload. 

Although I suppose kudos (Or at least a Darwin Award) are in order for willing to risk his life to try and prove a point 

[ansaman]

The video shown at the address looks just like a KSP staging error in which the parachute is deployed at launch. Unfortunately, this is a real person, a real rocket, and they are really dead. Viewer discretion is advised.  https://nypost.com/2020/02/23/mad-mike-hughes-fatal-rocket-crash-caught-on-video/

Edited February 23, 2020 by ansaman
fix link

[Zeiss Ikon]

Same kind of error nearly killed Evel Kneivel on his Snake River Gorge jump -- he missed landing upside down in the river by a matter of feet.

Goodbye, Mad Mike.  You were the most Kerbal of us all.

[Geonovast]

Overlapping threads have been merged.

[sevenperforce]

On 2/23/2020 at 1:34 AM, K^2 said:

Edit2: There's a video now, and I cannot think of a more Kerbal way to go. His parachute fired together with his engine.

I know, right? As morbid as it was, I couldn't help it.

Check yo damn staging.

[kerbiloid]

An off-topic but why KSP allows to put a chute and an engine in one staging event at all? Why not auto-split such event? Does somebody pull away a burnt stage with chutes?

Edited February 24, 2020 by kerbiloid

[Guest]

@ansaman thanks for the link, I won’t be making puns after watching that. Pretty tragic. He was one brave if misguided SOB

Edited February 24, 2020 by Guest

[wumpus]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

An off-topic but why KSP allows to put a chute and an engine in one staging event at all? Why not auto-split such event? Does somebody pull away a burnt stage with chutes?

A bunch of reasons:

1. Historical and availability of hilarious fails as you learn rocket science.  You'll note we saw it as a Squad trademark.  Judging by past design choices, I think this is the real reason.

2. Allows for the possibility of recovery by staging parachutes on falling stages as the next stage is sequenced (this was really hard with the old "deletion zone", I'm not sure it is still remotely effective now.  It does help mods).

3. The additional code has the chance of preventing hot staging and other side effects via bugs, not including it is safer.

4. It takes more man hours than you'd think, and Take2 doesn't want to fund KSP1.x more than they have to.

[sevenperforce]

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

An off-topic but why KSP allows to put a chute and an engine in one staging event at all? Why not auto-split such event? Does somebody pull away a burnt stage with chutes?

There are tons of reasons you might want to do that.

• Stage off your heat shield when you pop your drogues
• Fire retrorockets and pop a chute simultaneously at spaceplane touchdown on a short runway
• Place drogue chutes on a decoupler so they can be staged off when the mains are popped
• Chute down parallel stages for recovery without requiring a probe core
• Pop chutes and fairing simultaneously
• Fire solid retrorockets and pop chutes at the same time for a high-altitude, low-opening (HALO) descent