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Six Reasons Neil Armstrong was a BADASS

2012-08-27 · list · Hank · 3:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, self promotion

In an unscheduled video after Neil Armstrong's death, Hank leaves the symbolism to his SciShow tribute and lists six feats showing Armstrong was a skilled pilot with nerves of steel, from near-death test flights to landing the lunar module with 30 seconds of fuel left.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Unscheduled video: Neil Armstrong has died; SciShow tribute; six badass things he did

  • ★★ Apologizing for an unscheduled video, Hank notes that Neil Armstrong has died, which is super sad. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank points viewers to his SciShow video, where he waxes poetic about Armstrong. — 00:00:05 · SciShow
  • ★★★ Rather than Armstrong's symbolism, Hank wants to show he was 'pretty freakin' badass' through the six most amazing things he did. (playful) — 00:00:12

00:00:28 — #1 Pilot's license before driver's license; youngest in his Korean War squadron, 78 missions, ejection

  • ★★ Hank says Armstrong got his pilot's license before he could legally get a driver's license, when he was 16. — 00:00:28
  • ★★ Armstrong was the youngest in his squadron in the Korean War and flew 78 missions; on one, hit by artillery fire, he flew back to base and ejected. — 00:00:48

00:01:00 — #2 Test pilot: over 200 types of planes and three near-deaths (Chuck Yeager salt flat, X-15, landing-gear collapse)

  • ★★ As a test pilot Armstrong flew over 200 different types of planes and almost died around three times. — 00:01:00
  • ★★ His near-misses: a muddy salt-flat touch-and-go with Chuck Yeager, an X-15 bouncing off the atmosphere 40 miles off course with little fuel, and a landing-gear collapse. — 00:01:10

00:01:31 — #3 Gemini 8: first docking, uncontrolled spin, aborted mission

  • ★★ On Gemini 8, the first mission to dock two vehicles in space, Armstrong as command pilot stopped a spin of one revolution per second by aborting, separating and correcting the roll. — 00:01:31

00:01:55 — #4 LLRV crash and ejection, then back to paperwork

  • ★★ Testing the LLRV, 'basically a chair strapped to a jet engine', a side jet failed; Armstrong ejected about 30 feet up, and ejecting 0.5 seconds later would have killed him. — 00:01:55
  • ★★ After the LLRV crash Armstrong gave a short press conference and went back to work, telling people surprised to see him that he had paperwork to do. (playful) — 00:02:23

00:02:38 — #5 Threatening to sue his barber for selling his hair

  • ★★ Armstrong threatened to sue his barber of 20 years for selling his hair to a celebrity hair collector; unable to get it back, the barber gave the $3,000 to charity. (playful) — 00:02:38

00:03:11 — #6 Landing the LEM with 30 seconds of fuel and walking on the moon; Armstrong was a badass; sign-off

  • ★★★ Before walking on the moon, Armstrong landed the LEM by overriding the computer, diverting from a crater of car-sized rocks and landing with 30 seconds of fuel left. — 00:03:11
  • ★★★ Hank says failure would have ended humanity's first foray into another world in tragedy, two men dead on the moon, scarring the national psyche; it didn't, because Armstrong was a badass. — 00:03:33

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank adds that Armstrong was right for the mission not only as a humble symbol but as an amazing, highly skilled pilot with nerves of steel. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • A pilot's license before a driver's license, Hank says, is — 00:00:37

    “a great way to get a leg up on the competition if you wanted to become the first man on the moon,”

  • After surviving the LLRV explosion, Armstrong goes back to work and colleagues ask what he's doing there — 00:02:35

    “And Neil was like "I had some paperwork to do."”

  • Hank first frames Armstrong's threat to sue his barber of 20 years as a jerk move, then reveals why — 00:02:50

    “and sold it to a celebrity hair collector.”

  • To land the lunar module Armstrong had to override the computer — 00:03:20

    “just like Luke Skywalker "I'm gonna use the force!"”

Mentioned

Central: Apollo 11 · Neil Armstrong

Also: People: Chuck Yeager

Projects: SciShow

Places: Moon

Events: Gemini 8 · Korean War

Characters: Luke Skywalker

Products: Apollo Lunar Module · Lunar Landing Research Vehicle · North American X-15

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