The handshake of NASA was inspired by the NFL players



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After Monday's successful landing of the InSight lander on the surface of Mars, control of the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, broke under applause. Then a pair of engineers broke out with a complex handshake that set the Internet on fire.
Engineers – ID's only like Brooke and Gene a tweet from NASA – ran across an energetic series of slaps in hand, followed by punches, forearm blows, tremors, hand pumps and finally a good shot.
The inspiration for this Pro Bowl handshake came from an NFL game in September between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Marquise Goodwin, the 49ers receiver, shook hands with teammate Kendrick Bourne after scoring TD in the third quarter. (And for good reason, Goodwin was wide open.)

"We knew we were sitting together in the control room and we thought it would be fun for both of us," said Brooke, a Chiefs fan. "We saw something we liked from a previous game and we kind of imitated it."

Gene, a supporter of the New England Patriots, said that makes sense because the two are constantly talking about football and "touchdown celebrations are back" in vogue in the NFL.

They started planning the handshake about six weeks ago, studying and practicing Goodwin and Bourne's video movements.

"It's an excellent touchdown dance," Brooke said.

When they do not perfect the art of NFL handshakes, Brooke and Gene are engineers in Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) systems. EDL engineers are responsible for bringing the spacecraft up from the top of the atmosphere of a planet to the surface safely.

It was not easy with the landing of InSight. In less time than it takes to boil an egg, the undercarriage had to slow down from a speed of 12,300 mph to just 5 mph before landing gently on the surface Of March. No wonder they call it "the seven minutes of terror".

As for their handshake, now world famous, they are satisfied with it, but they are not convinced that it is ready for the pros.

"(Goodwin) did it better than we did," Gene said.

Good people on the Internet might disagree.

CNN's Ashley Strickland contributed to this report.

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