First off, no offense to the Chilean miners that just spent an unbelievable amount of time underground and didn't lose their minds. That took extreme bravery!

But, think about this: the first rescuer had to go the OTHER way!! He had to go almost 5 miles down. Down, way down, way (way way) way too far down  in a way too thin rock tunnel bored through unstable rock in an unlikely contraption that has only been tested with non-live cargo up till now.

I've never considered myself claustrophobic in the slightest, but when I watched the guys face as the capsule slowly slides into the dark, I found that I finally grok the cold fear of claustrophobia.

I don't think I could have done it myself. (Sure, I'd bluster with false bravado about it maybe, but just as the capsule starts going into the tube, I think I'd probably fully wuss out.)

This guy is BRAVE. Not saying he's not scared. He is, you can see it clearly. But the bravery overrode the fear. I'm impressed.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/10/12/vo.chile.rescuer.lowered.cnn