3min chapter

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02. Speech Breakdown: TED Talk Chris Hadfield "What I Learned From Going Blind In Space"

The Presentation Boss Podcast

CHAPTER

The APUs Are a Very Complicated Vehicle

"I think this is a beautiful example of storytelling," he says. "It's the most complicated flying machine ever built." He pauses to say, 'No problem so bad you can't make it worse' A few minutes before launch, huge nozzles on the back swing and sways the vehicle like an elephant getting up off its knees or something.

00:00
Speaker 1
So I think this is a beautiful example of storytelling. And what he's just described is kind of this process, which probably I imagine takes, I don't know, anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. And he's just put in enough detail that we can kind of follow along with what's happening. But not too much detail that it's unnecessary or boring or tedious. But it's still giving us a quite a clear process of you go and suit up and then a little bit about the van and getting into the spaceship without too much tedious detail.
Speaker 2
And the hatch is closed. And suddenly, what has been a lifetime of both dreams and denial is becoming real. Something that I dreamed about, the fact that I chose to do when I was nine years old, is now suddenly within not too many minutes of actually happening. And in the astronaut business, the shuttle is a very complicated vehicle. It's the most complicated flying machine ever built. And in the astronaut business, we have a saying, which is, there is no problem so bad that you can't make it worse. And...
Speaker 1
So I really like that line and the fact that he pauses, no problem so bad you can't make it worse. It's funny on the face of it, but it actually makes me stop and think and go, oh yeah, this is actually quite a serious situation. To me, it wasn't a deep line. It's just a funny line. But it's interesting you got something different out of that. Yeah, there's probably people in this audience who got something different again.
Speaker 2
And so you're very conscious in the cockpit. You're thinking about all of the things that you might have to do, all the switches and all the wickets you have to go through. And as the time gets closer and closer, this excitement is building, and then about three and a half minutes before launch, the huge nozzles on the back, like the size of big church bells, swing back and forth and the mass of them is such that it sways the whole vehicle, like the vehicle's alive underneath you. Like an elephant getting up off its knees or something. And then about 30 seconds before launch, the vehicle is completely alive. It is ready to go. The APUs are running. The computers are all self-contained. It's ready to leave the planet. And 15 seconds before launch, this happens.

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