Chinese Man Was The World’s First Astronaut, According To An Ancient Legend

The travel into space through rockets is probably one of the most remarkable human inventions of all time. When people hear the term “space travel,” the countries that first come into their minds are Russia and the United States.

These countries were the first ones that successfully traveled into space more than five decades ago. However, an ancient legend suggests that the world’s first astronaut was actually a Chinese official named Wan Hu.

In 1961, the first man in space was a Russian named Yuri Gagarin.

In 1969, the first man on the Moon was an American named Neil Armstrong.

Modern science tales would say that the Russian man named Yuri Gagarin was the very first man in space in 1961. He was followed by Alan Shepard, an American astronaut, just less than a month later.

However, did you know that the very first attempt to travel into space was supposedly made in ancient China? According to legend, in the 16th century during the reign of the Ming Dynasty, a Chinese official attempted to fly to the moon by using a large wicker chair.

An early story of Wan Hu appeared in an article by John Watkins, which appeared in the magazine Scientific American.

Attached to the chair were 47 large rockets, which were bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder. He had 47 assistants to light each rocket, NASA reported.

Upon the rocket’s attempted flight, however, there was a huge roar and bang, accompanied by thick clouds of smoke. When the smoke had cleared, there was no trace of Wan Hu.

This is a crater on the moon named Wan-Hoo, in memory of the ancient Chinese astronaut.

Another version of the story says that the rocket exploded, killing Wan Hu. Today, one crater on the far-side of the moon was named Wan-Hoo. Also, at the Yionang Satellite Center in China, a statue of Wan Hu was placed to further honor his memory.