> I'm sure it can be helped, but I'm not sure if the kind of cool Neil Armstrong displayed can really be developed.
Neil Armstrong was a test pilot. The kind of person who is told to push designs to their limits, and is responsible for keeping things in line when it's all hitting the fan. They need to keep cool, and it can definitely be developed, as I'm sure it is for any test pilot.
It's developed through a combination of intimate (intuitive) understanding of your equipment and the situations you find yourself in, an expectation of yourself to be able to handle whatever's thrown at you, and repeated exposure to stressful situations, so that you are familiar and comfortable with them.
I don't know how much this last one applies to Neil Armstrong specifically, but many people who keep cool in the face of death can do so because they've already accepted that death is a very real possible outcome. Even when the stakes aren't so high, if you've analyzed a situation before going in to it, and have decided that you are comfortable with any likely outcome, including the worst possible outcome, then your mind is freed from worrying and can focus on executing.
On the one hand, yes, facing death over and over again, combined with a psychological willingness to accept whatever happens, can probably take a cool headed person and give them nerves of steel. On the other hand, repeated exposure to extreme stress can also destroy a person if they're not inclined to grow stronger from it. I guess my previous point was, I'm not denying that response to stress can be improved, but there's a strong element of talent in being the sort of person willing to strap oneself to a controlled explosive moving at thousands of miles per hour in the first place.
Neil Armstrong was a test pilot. The kind of person who is told to push designs to their limits, and is responsible for keeping things in line when it's all hitting the fan. They need to keep cool, and it can definitely be developed, as I'm sure it is for any test pilot.
It's developed through a combination of intimate (intuitive) understanding of your equipment and the situations you find yourself in, an expectation of yourself to be able to handle whatever's thrown at you, and repeated exposure to stressful situations, so that you are familiar and comfortable with them.
I don't know how much this last one applies to Neil Armstrong specifically, but many people who keep cool in the face of death can do so because they've already accepted that death is a very real possible outcome. Even when the stakes aren't so high, if you've analyzed a situation before going in to it, and have decided that you are comfortable with any likely outcome, including the worst possible outcome, then your mind is freed from worrying and can focus on executing.