China is attempting to build a giant rail gun to fire astronauts into space

[UM-Bot]

Launching a rocket takes a lot of energy, but what if it were possible to fire a spacecraft into space instead?

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/375431/china-is-attempting-to-build-a-giant-rail-gun-to-fire-astronauts-into-space

[Get Real]

Wouldn't this turn the occupants to mush?

[+and-then]

Someone considered this plan a long time ago

[Waspie_Dwarf]

On 3/23/2024 at 2:52 AM, Get Real said:

Wouldn't this turn the occupants to mush?

No. It's not going to be accelerating the vehicle to orbital speed. From the article:

Quote

The gun works by accelerating the spacecraft along a lengthy electromagnetic track at speeds of up to mach 1.6.