Sometimes NASA comes up with incredibly complex solutions to extremely complex problems. Other times they come up with the simplest ones. And then there’s the case of how to test the stability of an entire Saturn V rocket, which is what you can see in this hilarious video from 1966.
On October 14, 1966, a “boilerplate” full Saturn V and Apollo spacecraft stack inside the Vehicle Assembly Building is rocked back and forth by employees pushing with their feet and pulling with a rope so that stability and stresses which might result from winds at the launch pad can be measured. During the test the escape tower at the top of the Saturn V broke off and fell, but no one was injured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnsFFhKqXXo
