18 Insane Feats Statistically Rarer Than Walking On the Moon

One small step for man, one giant leap for what's humanly possible.

Published 11 months ago in Wow

While taking a trip to the moon may be the gold standard of superhuman feats — one only achieved by 12 people — there are a whole lot more impressive accomplishments held by even fewer groups of people. Only six people have ever reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, meaning you're twice as likely to take one small step for man than visit the depths of the ocean. But it's not just nature that boasts such crazy odds. Though 50,000 people may have worked at New York City's World Trade Center, only one managed to tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.

From the death-defying bravery of professional rock climber Alex Honnold to the marine engineer who managed to survive nuclear blasts at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, here are feats somehow even rarer than walking on the moon.

1
“[Japanese marine engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi] Survived both the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

2
“One man [Slovenian swimmer Martin Strel] swam the length of the Amazon, Danube, Mississippi and Yangtze Rivers.”

3
“Played Tetris for the NES all the way to the kill screen [13-year-old Willis Gibson]”
4
“Only 11 people have trained a Triple Crown-winning horse. There have been 13 winning horses, but two trainers trained two winners.”

5
“Run the marathon distance in under 2 hours: 1 person [Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchog]”
6
“Only two people have ever flown the XF-84H Thunderscreech. Theoretically it was the fastest propeller-driven airplane ever built; it could have attained a speed above 1000km/h, but was so difficult to fly that it was never taken above roughly 840km/h in testing. At the very least it was the loudest propeller-driven airplane ever built, due to its supersonic propeller tips. One of the test pilots made a single flight and was so terrified at the plane's handling that he refused to ever set foot in the cockpit again. The other test pilot made 11 flights for a total of 12 test flights before the project was canceled. Thankfully the plane didn't manage to actually kill either of the people who flew it, making it statistically safer than a Boeing 737.”
7
“Fixed the leak at Chernobyl, saved the water table for Western Europe. Three guys [“suicide squad” Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bespalov and Boris Baranov] wearing taped up garbage bags.”

8
“Stuck part of their body into a particle accelerator and survived [Russian particle physicist Anatoli Bugorski].”
9
“Winning a horse race whilst dead. Just one person [Irish horse trainer Frank Hayes who suffered a heart attack mid-race].”
10
“Sir David Attenborough is the only person to win a BAFTA for a programme in black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K”

11
“Only six people have descended to the bottom of the Mariana trench.”
12
“Only one man has orbited the moon alone and walked on it, John Young."
13
“Violet Jessop. Survived all three White Star ocean liner sinkings. The Titanic, the Olympic, and the Britannic.”

14
“Grover Cleveland is the only POTUS who has been elected twice in non-consecutive terms, from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897.”
15
“Hit two grand slams in one inning of an MLB game. Fernando Tatis is the only one.”
16
“Joan Murray, in 1990, jumped from an altitude of 4400 km, both of her parachutes did not open. She fell on a nest of fire ants. Murray broke many bones, knocked out almost all her teeth, but remained conscious due to the fact that she received hundreds of poisonous ant bites, this contributed to a large release of adrenaline, as a result of which doctors managed to resuscitate her, after several years of treatment and physical recovery, Joan returned to normal life and continued skydiving.”

17
“Walked between the World Trade Center towers on a tightrope. Only one person [highwire artist Philippe Petit] ever did that.”
18
“Alex Honnold is the only person who has ever free soloed (climbing without ropes or gear) El Capitan. I doubt anyone else will ever even attempt to do this. Not only is it extremely difficult and dangerous, but there's not a lot of glory in being the second."