He doesn't actually believe the Earth is flat, he's just lying to the flat-Earth...community, if one could call it that, in order to raise money from them.

It really does reek of publicity stunt from all angles.

Science and thus mankind will only benefit from this experiment, regardless of the outcome.

At least he is willing to test his hypothesis with a scientific experiment. Although I doubt his rocket making skills if he hasn't figured out that the earth is round yet.

...it isn't round...

It's more of a sphere