he showed an almost incredible hands-on skill level when he de-spun the Gemini 8 capsule after its digital attitude control system pushed it up to nearly one revolution per second due to faulty software.
I remember reading about that, the sun was flashing past
the cockpit window sixty times a minute.
Talk about disorienting!
Chuck brought a totally out of control X-1 back under control saving the plane and himself.
Yes, he kept his head, was real cool, took care of one axis at a time (the capsule was flopping in multiple axes), and brought the situation under control.
He had the physical instincts of a professional high-wire artist, along with the mathematical skills to understand what was going on at a theoretical level and formulate a plan to solve the problem, all while whipping around like a whirling dervish.
He was also distinguished himself as an excellent pilot of the LLRV “flying bedstead,” which made extensive use of closed-loop servo controls for stability and guidance; his reports on its behavior in flight were instrumental in designing the software for the LM.
His reputation wasn’t damaged when one of the LLRV’s crashed while he was at the controls. The reason was that the thruster system ran out of fuel when the thing was several hundred feet up, which caused it to immediately become unstable. Armstrong was forced to eject from the LLRV, which fortunately didn’t fall on top of him as it hit the ground. The problem was found to be a faulty sensor that gave him an incorrect indication of his fuel state.