NASA

"Mad" Mike Hughes may have blacked out and that's why he failed to deploy backup parachutes moments before his fatal rocket crash ... TMZ has learned.

Mike's rep, Darren Shuster, tells TMZ ... the daredevil's launch got off to a terrible start when his parachute got snagged by a ladder next to the rocket. Mike needed a ladder because he didn't wanna be lifted into it, as they had initially prepared.

When the parachute got snagged, Mike's ground control crew radioed Mike and ordered him to deploy his backup parachute. There were 2 backups on the rocket. Problem was ... the ground crew never got a response from Mike.

Shuster tells us Mike's crew believes he may have blacked out with the rocket taking off at around 500 MPH. Shuster believes if Mike blacked out, it could very well explain why he never deployed his backup chute.

The timing for deploying the backup chutes was also critical ... Mike would have had to deploy the backup before he hit his apex because if he was descending at too high of a speed, it would have ripped a hole in the chute. But, Mike never got the chance.

As we reported ... the amateur rocket-engineer launched himself in the air with a self-made rocket that crash-landed. The incident was captured on camera after it was highly publicized.

Mike was attempting to get as close to space from Earth as possible -- known as the Karman line, about 62 miles above Earth's surface without the use of advanced tech.

Katherine Johnson -- the mathematician portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the Oscar-nominated film "Hidden Figures" -- has died.

NASA announced the pioneering figure died Monday. It was her groundbreaking math work that helped calculate the trajectories for Alan Shepard's history-making journey in space. She was also the one who gave the go-ahead for John Glenn's mission into orbit.

Johnson, who was initially rejected by NASA when she first applied, was tasked by Glenn to check the computer's work by redoing all the math done by a computer that had been programmed with the orbital equations that would control the trajectory of the capsule in Glenn's Friendship 7 mission.

And, as part of the pre-flight checklist, Glenn asked engineers to "get the girl" to run the same numbers through the same equations that had been programmed into the computer ... by hand. Glenn famously said, "If she says they're good then I'm ready to go." The mission went on without a hitch.

"Hidden Figures" was released in 2016 to much acclaim. It earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Octavia Spencer was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Johnson was honored at the 2017 Oscars.

Johnson, who retired in 1986 from NASA, authored or co-authored 26 research projects. She recalled her greatest contribution to space exploration the calculations that helped with Project Apollo's Lunar Lander -- the moon-orbiting Command Service Module.

She was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She was famous before even her NASA days ... she was one of 3 black students handpicked to integrate West Virginia's graduate school. Johnson graduated from West Virginia State College in 1937 ... earning degrees in mathematics and French.

Johnson arrived at NASA before it was known by those letters. She started at NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) in 1953. It became NASA five years later.

In 2015 and at 97 years of age, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

She was 101.

RIP

'Mad' Mike Hughes is believed to possibly be dead after launching himself in the air with a self-made rocket that crash-landed -- and it was captured on camera.

The well-known daredevil and amateur rocket-engineer was doing a rocket launch Saturday in what appears to be near Barstow, CA -- where a reporter says Mike propelled himself into the air with a "self-made steam-powered rocket" and then crash-landed into the ground.

The reporter, Justin Chapman, adds, "Very likely did not survive." He tells TMZ ... Mike is confirmed to be dead there on the ground as well.

In the video, you see a parachute fly out of the rocket, but it doesn't appear anyone is using it. The presumption, for now, is that Mike might've stayed in the rocket as it ascended hundreds of feet into the air.

Mike's rep, Darren Shuster, tells TMZ he was NOT at the launch Saturday, but does believe his longtime client to be deceased based on what he's seen and heard. Darren says Mike was a "one-of-a-kind" adding, "When God made Mike he broke the mold. The man was the real deal and lived to push the edge. He wouldn’t have gone out any other way! RIP"

For Saturday's experiments, Mike is said to have been attempting to get as close to space from Earth as possible -- otherwise known as the Karman line, about 62 miles above Earth's surface -- without the use of advanced tech you might find at NASA or SpaceX.

Much more tragic, Mike seemed pretty stoked for the launch this weekend. He posted a video describing his rocket, where it would go down and what he was aiming to achieve. BTW, he was a big flat-earth believer -- and a doc was even made about him trying to prove it.

We've reached out to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Dept. for comment ... so far, no word back. However, we were told by a dispatcher at the Victor Valley Sheriff's Station that a call for service had been placed Saturday out of Barstow -- the nature of which is unclear.

Mike was 64. RIP

Who says a Rolling Stones concert is only rock 'n' roll? Not Robert Downey Jr., who kicked off Thursday night's Rose Bowl concert by announcing the band has its own stone ... on Mars.

Iron Man himself hit the stage before Mick, Keith and the fellas rocked the crowd of 60,000 ... and shared an origin story about the legendary band and the exploration of the red planet.

Long story short, Mars and the band are now cosmically linked forever because NASA has named an iconic rock on the planet's surface ... "Rolling Stones Rock."

As Downey Jr. enthusiastically explained ... NASA's successful landing of the InSight spacecraft last year on Mars sent a golf ball-sized rock rolling a few feet across the surface -- and the rocket scientists came up with a (sorta?) clever name for it.

It might just be one small stone for man, but it's one giant leap for Stones' kind.

BTW ... 76-year-old Jagger looked like he was ready for space exploration himself, showing no signs of slowing after the heart valve procedure earlier this year, which delayed the tour.

After the show, photogs got this shot of the frontman with a device hanging next to his neck -- and while there's a rumor it's there to monitor his heart ... that just ain't so.

NASA did the impossible 50 years ago -- putting a man on the moon -- and achieved a similar feat 50 years later ... putting on a spectacular Apollo 11 celebration for relatively pennies.

TMZ's got the receipts from the blowout celebration this week on the National Mall ... and according to federal procurement docs, NASA doled out only $1.4 mil for a series of special events ... that's like a small house in Burbank, maybe.

Now, get this -- at it's time, the Apollo 11 mission cost $25 billion -- a number experts say would land just south of $300 billion in today's dollars.

This week's events include hands-on exhibits, live performances, speeches from moon experts and a 363-foot projection of the Saturn V rocket on the Washington Monument. This showed how space exploration affects our daily lives and can inspire the next generation of explorers.

Federal procurement docs show NASA spent a little over $43,000 back in 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the moon landing ... a small celebration on Capitol Hill and a White House photo op with astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong alongside Barack Obama. That was like a backyard fireworks display compared to one at the Statue of Liberty for July 4th,  which is what's going down this weekend!!!

So, NASA saved it pennies ... presumably for a trip to Mars.

The Washington Monument is more than a phallic symbol this week ... it's the backdrop for commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

The image is life size -- a 363-foot projection of the Saturn V rocket that launched 3 astronauts on the historic moon mission. The tip of the Monument is nearly 200 feet higher than the tip of the space capsule.

The National Air and Space Museum is hosting a series of events to honor astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins' amazing mission that took them from Earth to the moon.

There will also be a 17-minute show projected onto the Monument Friday and Saturday dubbed "Apollo 50: Go for the Moon" ... which will recreate the historic July 20, 1969 launch and subsequent lunar landing that paved the way for Neil Armstrong's most iconic quote after he was first to step on the moon.

Fun fact ... Neil Armstrong said everyone got his famous words wrong ... he did not say "This is one small step for man ..." he says he said "This is one small step for 'A' man." Apparently the "A" got lost in transmission.

Paul Pierce loves everything about the Boston Celtics' top draft selection Grant Williams -- telling TMZ Sports straight-up," That's a great pick!"

Boston picked the forward from Tennessee with the 22nd pick in the 2019 NBA Draft -- and they're expecting big things from the 6'8", 236 pounder.

Besides being a stud in college, where he was a 1st team All American and a 2-time SEC Player of the Year ... he's also been praised for being super smart -- something that runs in his family.

In fact, Grant's mother, Teresa Johnson, is an engineer for NASA -- one of the first black, female engineers to ever do it ... amazing.

This is why Grant confidently shot down Kyrie Irving's flat-Earth theory in a video that's going viral -- where the NBA rookie tells it like it is ...

"Kyrie's 'Earth is flat' theory is scientifically not true," Grant said ... "That's just not true at all."

By the way, Kyrie is still technically on the Celtics -- so things could get weird in the locker room.

Then again, Kyrie is expected to leave when free agency begins in a few weeks ... so crisis averted?!

Attention all moon landing fans ... or even deniers -- this is your chance to own a piece of American space exploration history, via legends Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

An extremely rare 70 mm positive film roll from the camera of Apollo 11 -- the first spaceflight that put Neil and Buzz on the lunar surface -- will be up for grabs starting June 13.

The Hasselblad cam film roll contains 126 iconic photos from the moonshot mission taken personally by Armstrong and Aldrin during their exploration.

The color images include moments from inside the Lunar Module Eagle right before Armstrong stepped off the spacecraft, his first photo after taking his famous first steps, Aldrin standing next to the American Flag ... and his legendary "Moon Man" image with his mask showing a reflection of Armstrong.

According to the auction house, RR Auction, the film roll was acquired from Terry Slezak, a member of the Manned Spacecraft Center's lunar receiving lab. He was in charge of processing the film brought back from the Apollo moon landings ... and here he is with moon dust on his hands from one of 11's film canisters.

The roll goes up for auction June 13 and ends on June 20 ... and it's estimated to haul in around $8,000.

9:53 AM PT -- NASA has just responded to the backlash, stating, "To clarify, we have more than 1 medium size spacesuit torso aboard, but to stay on schedule with @Space_Station upgrades, it's safer & faster to change spacewalker assignments than reconfigure spacesuits."

9:25 AM PT -- Hillary Clinton just weighed in on the situation, and her solution is pretty clear ... "Make another suit."

NASA's no better than your average department store -- lack of the right sizes in its women's department just screwed 2 astronauts out of making history with the first all-female spacewalk mission.

Turns out the space geniuses don't have enough spacesuits to fit female astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain ... who were scheduled to make a repair to the International Space Station's solar panels on Friday. NASA says it only has one medium-sized space shirt, and it's going to Koch ... although it's kind of a hand-me-down.

McClain used it last week during a spacewalk, which is when she discovered the bad fit. She originally planned to wear a large, but found the medium more to her liking. Since McClain wore it last, Koch is getting the nod this week.

NASA and all the astronauts agree the proper fit is critical to mission success ... still sucks to miss out on history. Perhaps worst of all, a man's taking McClain's place Friday.

Yes, even at around 220 miles above Earth ... there's a glass ceiling.

Note to President Trump: More fitting rooms for Space Force, please.

Queen guitarist Brian May is here to make you super pumped about outer space and science, because he just dropped a theme song for NASA's New Horizons mission ... and it rocks!

Brian's famous for playing lead guitar for the classic rock band, but he's also an astrophysicist who's been working with NASA's New Horizons team as it sends a probe to the outer reaches of our solar system ... and he's combined his two passions to create a mission anthem that's cooler than Pluto!

Brian dropped the New Horizons tribute song on New Year's Eve, coinciding with the NASA spacecraft reaching Ultima Thule in the icy Kuiper belt ... and we gotta say, the track stacks up pretty well to Queen's soundtrack for "Flash Gordon."

As for the story behind the song ... Brian was reportedly reluctant to work his rock star magic when a New Horizons colleague asked him to write a song for the mission, because Brian felt it was almost impossible to rhyme with Ultima Thule.

Brian says he eventually started hearing music in his head sounding like "an object plummeting through space" and his creative juices started flowing and the song was born.

Pink Floyd fans might be disappointed to learn China beat the U.S. to the "dark side" of the moon ... which, funny enough, is pretty damn bright.

China's national space program released photos Thursday after its spacecraft, Chang'e 4 lunar probe, landed on the far side of the moon for the first time in human history ... and, at first glimpse, there wasn't a whole lot of darkness back there. Quite the contrary.

In the closeup shot above, you can see the cratered surfaced is well lit, and looks a lot like the front side that Earth often sees from down below. Gasp!!!

This black and white shot was taken just as the probe successfully landed. It too appears to be luminous -- which makes sense. The sun's light obviously shines through back there.

China's mission is a big deal, as it's the first country in world history to get a spacecraft back there ... beating both the U.S. and Russia to the punch.

Jim Bridenstine -- the head of NASA -- says Steph Curry just HAS to be joking about his moon landing theory ... telling TMZ Sports, "I can't imagine he really believes that!!"

The Warriors superstar sent space nerds into a frenzy Monday when he declared on The Ringer's "Winging It" podcast that the moon landing in 1969 never happened.

Enter Bridenstine ... who says Curry's claim is so outrageous -- the point guard just cannot be serious.

"I think it's funny," Jim tells us ... "I can't imagine he really believes that. It's outside the realm of what's possible."

In fact ... Jim REALLY set Steph straight, saying, "Here's the thing, we didn't just go to the moon once, we went to the moon six times! And, we did it from 1969 to 1972!!!"

Bridenstine also doubled down on NASA's invitation to have Curry come check out all their evidence -- saying he'd LOVE to prove Steph wrong and get him involved in the space program afterward!

"My son is a HUGE fan of Steph Curry. So, if we can get him involved in space, I'm for it!"

Donald Trump's amateurish designs for potential Space Force logos are out-of-this-world bad ... so says the artist who created an older NASA logo.

Richard Danne -- the designer of a NASA logo from 1975 -- went off on Trump's Space Force artwork.

Danne ripped into the designs released by the Trump Administration ... telling TMZ, "This logo effort is typical of the present administration: impulsive, ill-advised, superficial, and second-rate."

Tell us how you really feel, Richard!!!

"A random student from the Los Angeles Art Center could put these logos to shame ... They are, in a word: sophomoric!"

Richard is peeved some of the Space Force designs were lifts from past NASA logos.

"The images are totally derivative from NASA graphics but are -- All flash and no substance, and comical really."

If the idea of a U.S. Space Force triggers visions of spacecrafts engaging in intergalactic battles and missions, you might have watched too many 'Star Wars' films ... so says former NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson.

Anderson wants to learn more about President Trump's Space Force -- which could be established as soon as 2020 -- but tells us he sees the realistic benefits from the proposed 6th branch of the military ... just not as an outrageous plot from a Hollywood movie script.

This guy knows what he's talking about ... Anderson was an Astronaut for 15 years, spent 167 days in space and went on 6 spacewalks.

Anderson sees a potential Space Force as a means to protect U.S. military assets on Earth and in orbit. Clayton and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson both agree it's not a crazy idea.