Wan Hu strapped himself to a bamboo chair with forty-seven gun-powder filled rockets, and a large kite system for movement and to act like a parachute when returning to the ground. Forty-seven assistants used torches to set light to the rockets, which propelled the wannabee astronaut upwards through a cloud of smoke and a massive explosion. It was said that the rockets exploded at various times, yet no remains were found of the chair or of Wan Hu.
Fact or fiction?
Wan Hu is revered in Chinese legend but most believe the story to be fake or allegory such is the ridiculousness and recklessness of the act. If it happened, then the success of even reaching the sky seems impossible. It seems he was a well-educated man, so it is more likely his experiment was a show. A famous US television program set up a recreation of the event to test the hypothesis,