THE SPACE SHUTTLE AND THE ROMAN HORSE

technology today is more connected to the past than we imagine ... The U.S. space shuttle uses two tanks for solid fuel, manufactured in the state of Utah. The design engineers wanted to make them wider, but had the limitation of the tunnels where the railroads would be transported to the launch site. These tunnels have their widths based on the gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet 8.5 inches.

Why this seemingly preposterous number? Because that was the width of the gauge of British railways, and how it was the British who built the first American railroads, this was the measure used. But by that measure? Why British companies who built the cars were the same who built the wagons before the railroads, leveraging the same tools and equipment.

And by that measure 4 feet and 8.5 inches for the wagons? Because the distance between the wheels should allow the movement of wagons in the old roads of Europe that had this measure. And why the roads were this far? Why were opened during the Roman Empire, and the Romans took as a basis the width of chariots. And why the measures were well defined? Because the chariots were made to accommodate two coupled horses.

Ie: the world's most advanced engineering in design and technology example still depends primarily on the size of the Roman horse's ass ...

PS-I do not know if all this exercise in logic is true, but it was so told me the story and I found 'interesting