Did you know one of the most advanced features of the US Space Programme was determined by the width of a horse’s arse.
The axel width of Roman chariots was two horse arses wide. Over time, the chariot wheels dug deep ruts in the roads. All subsequent chariots, carts and later carriages had to stick to that same axel width to ensure the wheels turned in the well established ruts. Longer axels would wreck the vehicle as one wheel rode in the rut and the other bumped along the bank.
English carriage makers therefore standardised their axel design to the old Roman rut widths. With the industrial revolution, carriage makers made trams and then trains. They did so using the tools and measurements of their trade.
English engineers went on to build the American railways. They did so using their old measurements. American railway tracks are therefore 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches apart. This measurement came from those old Roman roads.
Now, think of that space shuttle. One of the fastest and most technically advanced vehicles around. Each shuttle has two giant booster rockets attached to the main fuel tank. These are called solid rocket boosters, or SRBs.
Well, the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch pad. The railway line goes through a mountain tunnel which is slightly wider than the railway tracks. The rocket designers wanted bigger boosters, but were restricted by the width of that tunnel.
So a principle design feature of the US space programme was originally determined by the width of a horse’s arse…
Adds a whole new meaning to the term legacy systems !
So yeah... 