Editing Wan Hu (section)

{{Short description|Legendary Chinese character}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Wan (surname)|Wan]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| image = Wan Hu large.png
| caption = Illustration of Wan Hu, courtesy of [[Marshall Space Flight Center]]
| c = 萬戶
| p = Wàn Hù
| postal = Wan Hoo
| c2 = 萬虎
| altname3 = Personal name
| c3 = 陶成道
| p3 = Táo Chéngdào
}}
'''Wan Hu''' is a legendary Chinese official described in modern sources as possibly the first man to attempt to use a rocket to launch into outer space.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Dear Sound of Footstep |last=Butler |first=Ashley |publisher=Sarabande |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-936747-44-3 |page=43}}</ref> Possibly depicted as the "world's first astronaut"<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pigeon Guided Missiles |first1=James |last1=Moore |first2=Paul |last2=Nero |publisher=History Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7524-6676-7 |pages=158–159}}</ref> and "the first [[martyr]] in man's struggle to achieve space flight",<ref>{{Cite book |title=AF Manual |publisher=Department of the Air Force|year=1960|pages=1–2}}{{fcn|date=October 2024}}</ref> [[NASA]] named the crater [[Wan-Hoo (crater)|Wan-Hoo]] on the far side of the Moon after him.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cocks |first1=Elijah E. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780936389271/page/426/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Who's who on the moon: a biographical dictionary of lunar nomenclature |last2=Cocks |first2=Josiah C. |year=1995 |publisher=Tudor |isbn=978-0-936389-27-1}}</ref>

According to some Chinese sources, "Wan Hu" was a title granted to him by the imperial court during the early [[Ming dynasty]], and his real name was '''Tao Chengdao'''. As a Ming official, he was interested in technological innovation, particularly concerning rockets.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Guo |first=Rui |author-mask=Guo Rui (郭銳) |script-title=zh:種子的奇幻之旅：航天育種簡史 |year=2020 |isbn=978-988-8676-61-3 |language=zh |page=41}}</ref> He is said to have died in 1390.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shu |first=Xili |author-mask=Shu Xili (舒錫莉) |script-title=zh:免死背！圖解物理強棒教室 |year=2020 |isbn=978-957-9068-37-6 |language=zh |page=18}}</ref>

While the legend is well-known, there is no direct evidence surviving to substantiate it.<ref>{{Cite book|title=To a Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers |first=Chris |last=Gainor |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4962-1158-3 |page=30}}</ref> According to [[Joseph Needham]], the story is dubious and may be invented during or after the ''[[Chinoiserie]]'' period, considering the lack of firm historical reference.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Science and Civilisation in China, Part 7, Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic |editor-first=Joseph |editor-last=Needham |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-521-30358-3 |page=509}}</ref> However, Li Chengzhi has argued for the story's plausibility, saying that it may have come from oral transmission by European missionaries who came to China during the late Ming and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties,<ref name="missionary"></ref> or based on records in an ancient Chinese document that has been subsequently lost.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding Pulsars and Space Navigations|author=Ping Shuai|publisher=Springer Nature Singapore|year=2021|isbn=978-981-16-1067-7|pages=100–101}}</ref>