Quote:Mythbusters did an episode on the legend of the Han Dynasty Astronaut... that is, the tale of an astronomer who tried to reach the moon by, well, getting his servants to strap a crapload of rockets to a chair.
If I remember my very basic ancient Chinese History correctly, they actually had the tech base for (rocket) powered gliders.
The only reason they didnt build any thing capable of manned flight was the Emporer at the time said (very loosely)
"The world ends at this Great Wall. Do any thing to prove me wrong, and heads will roll."
Now, of course, it's obvious that...if this actually happened...he would have failed. So the question is more of, well, how badly would he have failed?
As the episode concludes: very.
Whooooosh spin spin spin boom.
-- Acyl