We normally might not have stopped to draw attention to this, but the heightened awareness of the US space program occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon makes this a particularly poignant passing:
Behind America's late leap into orbit and triumphant small step on the moon was the agile mind and guts-of-steel of Chris Kraft, making split-second decisions that propelled the nation to once unimaginable heights.Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. Rest in peace.
Kraft, the creator and longtime leader of NASA's Mission Control, died Monday in Houston, just two days after the 50th anniversary of what was his and NASA's crowning achievement: Apollo 11's moon landing. He was 95.
Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. never flew in space, but "held the success or failure of American human spaceflight in his hands," Neil Armstrong, the first man-on-the-moon, told The Associated Press in 2011.
Kraft founded Mission Control and created the job of flight director — later comparing it to an orchestra conductor — and established how flights would be run as the space race between the U.S. and Soviets heated up. The legendary engineer served as flight director for all of the one-man Mercury flights and seven of the two-man Gemini flights, helped design the Apollo missions that took 12 Americans to the moon from 1969 to 1972 and later served as director of the Johnson Space Center until 1982, overseeing the beginning of the era of the space shuttle.
I hope he was alert and aware of the fiftieth anniversary celebration and could know how much he was appreciated and remembered for his contributions. The space program was always a part of my personal awareness as I was growing up. I can remember when Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon and when the first space shuttle launched. We take for granted that we were a nation of science and discovery and I hope we can continue to regain that strength.
ReplyDeletedonnah -- agree. Kraft was an integral part of getting our space program (literally) off the ground, and in guiding it through it's most difficult and awe-inspiring times.
ReplyDeleteI was struck, as a kid, both by Chris Kraft's alliterative name but also his dynamic personality (also his name is also the same as a type of powerboat). These were the crewcut WW II era people who, I think, would have been outraged at someone like Trump (well, we know Buzz Aldrin's given his live reaction to Trump, which was that he thought he was a little off)>
ReplyDeleteJimbo- I hadn't realized until recently that Kraft's middle name was Columbus. A prescient choice for a man who would be a true 20th century explorer!
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