Tradition asserts that the first to sacrifice himself to the problem of flying was Wang Tu, a Chinese mandarin of about 2,000 years B.C. who, having had constructed a pair of large, parallel and horizontal kites, seated himself in a chair fixed between them while forty-seven attendants each with a candle ignited forty-seven rockets placed beneath the apparatus. But the rocket under the chair exploded, burning the mandarin and so angered the Emperor that he ordered a severe paddling for Wang.
小魏肯斯的Wang Tu故事很快就銷聲匿跡,沒有流傳開來。直到蘇聯科普作家尼古拉·阿列克謝耶維奇·萊寧(英语:Nikolai Rynin),在1928年至1932年間主編出版了一套九卷本的百科全書《星際通訊》(Межпланетные сообщения),這也是世界上第一部關於噴氣推進與航天技術史及理論的百科全書式著作。其中在1929年出版的第四卷《火箭和直接反應發動機》(Ракеты и двигатели прямой реакции)中,「萬戶」這個人物首次登場,被拼寫作西里爾文的「Ван-Гу」(Wan-Hu),人名與小魏肯斯文章的Wang Tu略有不同。[9]
Начало появления ракет относится к глубокой древности. Повидимому, впервые они появились за 3000 лет до Р.Х. в Китае, где сначала при менялись в качестве забавы для фейерверков, затем в военном деле, для поджогов, а потом, по словам легенды, и для подъема людей. Так, в одной легенде говорится, что китайский мандарин Ван-Гу изготовил два боль ших параллельных горизонтальных змея, скрепленных с сидением, рас положенным между- ними, под этим аппаратом было помещено 47 ракет, которые были подожжены одновременно 47 слугами. Однако, ракета под сиденьем мандарина взорвалась неудачно, и от происшедшего пожара, к несчастью, сгорел и сам изобретатель.
1944年,美國德裔科普作家威利·雷伊(英语:Willy Ley)出版著作《火箭:平流層外旅行之未來》(Rockets: The Future of Travel beyond the Stratosphere),將「萬戶」(Wan-Hoo)這一人物再度回流至美國。雷伊出生於德國柏林,精通德、英、意、法、俄語,在納粹上台後因厭惡其理念,於1935年離開德國,最終定居美國。雷伊和蘇聯作家萊寧有書信往來,以交換最新的航天和火箭資訊,因此雷伊的「萬戶」故事很可能就是來自萊寧的作品,並按照错误拼写的俄文「Ван-Гу」翻譯成「Wan-Hoo」。[8][4]在雷伊的版本中,他強調無法確定「萬戶」的真偽,並且把萬戶飛天發生的時間,根據火箭技術的發展程度,估計爲公元1500年左右,自此萬戶飛天的故事不再是誇張而不切實際的公元前數千年。 [10]
Another such isolated instance of the application of rocket power is a story which may be legendary or it may be true─there is no way of telling. It centers around the otherwise completely unknown person of a Chinese official whose name is given as Wan-Hoo. This Wan-Hoo, the story goes, committed a rather spectacular suicide in or around A.D. 1500 by inventing and testing a rocket airplane. He took two large kites and connected them with a framework in the center of which a saddle was fastened. Forty-seven large powder rockets had been attached beneath the kites in strategic places and forty-seven coolies stood ready with flaming torches to ignite these rockets at a prearranged signal. When everything seemed ready, the learned and daring Wan-Hoo seated himself in the saddle and finally signaled to the waiting coolies. They rushed at the machine, each one applying his torch to the rocket he was to ignite, and Wan-Hoo and his machine disappeared in a noisy cloud of black smoke.
Early in the sixteenth century, Wan decided to take advantage of China's advanced rocket and fireworks technology to launch himself into outer space. He supposedly had a chair built with forty-seven rockets attached. On the day of lift-off, Wan, splendidly attired, climbed into his rocket chair and forty seven servants lit the fuses and then hastily ran for cover. There was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, Wan and the chair were gone, and was said never to have been seen again.
現存中國歷史資料中未發現关于「萬戶」其人或「萬戶飛天」其事的确切记载。美國科普作家羅恩‧米勒(英语:Ron Miller (artist and author))在他的著作 《夢想機器:藝術、科學與文學中的太空船歷史圖解》(The Dream Machines: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science and Literature, 1993)中提到:「大多数的權威学者,包括著名汉学家李約瑟都认为万户的故事是伪造的。故事中大量的自相矛盾,且无法找到早於1909年的出版资料都说明这一点。这个故事很可能是基于对东方的幻想,在17至19世纪编造出来的。」[21][7]
^ 1.01.1WAN HOO AND HIS SPACE VEHICLE. (原始内容存档于2009-03-20). According to one ancient legend, a Chinese official named Wan-Hoo attempted a flight to the moon using a large wicker chair to which were fastened 47 large rockets. Forty seven assistants, each armed with torches, rushed forward to light the fuses. In a moment there was a tremendous roar accompanied by billowing clouds of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the flying chair and Wan-Hu were gone. (Illustration courtesy of United States Civil Air Patrol).