Eugene Francis "Gene" Kranz (born 17 August 1933) is a retired NASA flight director and manager. Events 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program Flight controllers are personnel who aid in the operations of a space flight working in Mission Control Centers such as NASA 's Mission Control Center, or Kranz served as a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and is best known for his role in saving the crew of Apollo 13. Team The Gemini program was managed by the Manned Spacecraft Center Houston Texas under direction of the Office of Manned Space Flight NASA Headquarters Washington He is also famous for his trademark flattop hairstyle, and the wearing of vests (waistcoats) of different styles and materials during missions for which he acted as flight director. This article is about the hairstyle For the Dick Tracy villain Flattop Jones see Flattop (Dick Tracy villain. Kranz has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is along with the equivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed
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Early years
Kranz was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up on a farm that overlooked the Willys-Overland Jeep production plant. This article is about the city in Ohio, USA. For Toledo Spain, see that article Willys was the brand name used by the United States Automobile company Willys-Overland Motors best known for its production of military and civilian Jeep is an Automobile Marque (and registered trademark of Chrysler. His father, Leo Peter Kranz, was the son of a German immigrant, and served as an Army medic during World War I. The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces Medic is a general term for a person involved in medicine especially emergency or first-response medicine such as an Emergency Medical Technician, Paramedic, or World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All His father died in 1940, when Eugene F. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. was only seven years old. Kranz has two older sisters, Louise and Helen.
His early fascination with flight was apparent in the topic of his high school thesis, entitled "The Design and Possibilities of the Interplanetary Rocket. " Kranz graduated from Parks College of Saint Louis University in 1954, and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, completing pilot training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas in 1955. Saint Louis University (also known as SLU) is a private co-educational Jesuit University in the United States of America located in Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) Second Lieutenant is the lowest commissioned officer Military rank in many Armed forces. The Air Force Reserve Command ( AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM of the U Lackland Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force operated by the Air Education and Training Command ( AETC) Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) Shortly after receiving his wings, Kranz married Marta Cadena, a daughter of Mexican immigrants who fled from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. For the United Kingdom equivilant see Aircrew brevet. The Aircrew Badge is a qualification badge of the United States military that The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. The Mexican Revolution (Revolución Mexicana was a major armed struggle that started with an uprising led by Francisco I Kranz was sent to South Korea to fly the F-86 Sabre aircraft for patrol operations around the Korean DMZ. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Korean Demilitarized Zone ( Korean: 한반도의 군사 분계선 is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a Buffer
After finishing his tour in Korea, Kranz left the Air Force and went to work for McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, where he assisted with the research and testing of new Surface-to-Air (SAM) and Air-to-Ground missiles for the U. In the Military, a tour of duty is a period of time spent at Sea or assigned to service in a foreign country The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American Aerospace manufacturer based in St A surface to air missile ( SAM) or ground-to-air missile ( GTAM) is a Missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy Aircraft S. Air Force at its Research Center at Holloman Air Force Base. Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located six miles (10 km) southwest of the Central business district of Alamogordo
NASA career
After completing the research tests at Holloman Air Force Base, Kranz left McDonnell-Douglas and joined the NASA Space Task Group, then at its Langley Research Center in Virginia. Langley Research Center (LaRC is the oldest of NASA 's field centers located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Upon joining NASA, he was assigned, by flight director Christopher C. Kraft, as a Mission Control procedures officer for the unmanned MR-1 test (dubbed in Kranz's autobiography as the "Four-Inch Flight", due to its failure to launch). Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr (born February 28 1924 is a retired NASA engineer and manager who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control Mission Control Center (MCC is a unit that manages aerospace flights Mercury - Redstone 1 (MR-1 was launched on November 21, 1960 from Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
As Procedures Officer, Kranz was put in charge of integrating Mercury Control with the Launch Control Team at Cape Canaveral, Florida, writing up the "Go/NoGo" procedures that allowed missions to continue as planned or be aborted, along with serving as a sort of switchboard operator between the control center at Cape Canaveral and the agency's fourteen tracking stations and two tracking ships (via Teletype) located across the globe. Cape Canaveral is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. A teleprinter ( Kranz performed this role for all unmanned and manned Mercury flights, including the trailblazing MR-3 and MA-6 flights, which put the first Americans into space and orbit respectively. Mercury-Redstone 3 was a US Mercury program human crewed space mission launched on May 5, 1961 using a Redstone rocket The Mercury-Atlas 6 mission was the first attempt by the US and Mercury program to place an astronaut in orbit
After MA-6, he was promoted to Assistant Flight Director to Flight Director Kraft for the MA-7 flight of astronaut Scott Carpenter in October, 1962. An astronaut or cosmonaut (космона́вт) is a person trained Malcolm Scott Carpenter (born May 1 1925 in Boulder Colorado) is a former Test pilot, Astronaut, and Aquanaut. Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He continued in this role for the remaining two Mercury flights and the first three Gemini flights. With the upcoming Gemini flights, he was promoted to the Flight Director level and served his first shift, the so-called "operations shift," for the Gemini 4 mission in 1965, the first U. Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) was a June 1965 Manned space flight in NASA 's Gemini program. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. S. EVA and four-day flight. Extra-vehicular activity ( EVA) is work done by an Astronaut away from the Earth and outside of a Spacecraft. After Gemini, he served as a Flight Director on odd-numbered Apollo missions, including Apollos 7 and 9. He was the Flight Director for Apollo 11, during the moment when the Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Kranz is perhaps best known for his role as lead Flight Director during the Apollo 13 Space Mission. Kranz's team was on duty when the Apollo 13 Service Module exploded, and they dealt with the initial hours of the unfolding accident. A service module is a Spacecraft compartment containing a variety of support systems used for spacecraft operations but not any habitable area His "White Team," dubbed the "Tiger Team" by the press, set the constraints for the consumption of spacecraft consumables (oxygen, electricity and water), controlled the three course-correction burns during the trans-Earth trajectory, as well as the power-up procedures that allowed the astronauts to use the Command Module for the trip home. He, his team, as well as the astronauts received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their heroic roles. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is along with the equivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed
Kranz would continue as a Flight Director until Apollo 17, and then was promoted to Deputy Director of NASA Mission Operations in 1974, becoming Director in 1983. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) He retired in1994 after the successful STS-61 flight that repaired the optically flawed Hubble Space Telescope in 1993. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) STS-61 was the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The Hubble Space Telescope ( HST; also known colloquially as "the Hubble" or just "Hubble" is a space telescope that was carried into Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) In addition to having written Failure Is Not An Option, which was adapted for cable TV for The History Channel in 2004, he also flies an acrobatic airplane and serves as a flight engineer for a restored B-17 Flying Fortress. History, formerly known as The History Channel, is a Satellite and Cable TV channel, with shows on historical events and persons&mdashoften "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " In Aviation, a flight engineer is a member of the aircrew of some Aircraft. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout He and his wife Marta, along with their six children (one boy and five girls) and several grandchildren, still reside in Texas.
Family
Kranz, a Catholic, had six children with his wife, Marta: Carmen (born 1958), Lucy (1959), Joan Frances (1961), Mark (1963), Brigid (1964), and Jean Marie (1966).
Jean Marie is currently married to Theodore Kowal.
Kranz on film
Ed Harris played Kranz in the 1995 film, Apollo 13, and received an Oscar Nomination for Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role. Edward Allen "Ed" Harris (born November 28 1950 is a four-time Academy Award -nominated and Golden Globe -winning American actor writer and director "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. When he first puts on his white Apollo 13 vest, given as a gift to him from his wife, everyone in Mission Control applauds and a controller yells out, "Hey Gene, I guess we can go now!"
Dan Butler, a character actor better known for his portrayal of "Bulldog" Briscoe on the sit-com Frasier, portrayed Kranz in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. Dan Butler may refer to Dan Butler (actor, American actor Dan Butler (civil servant, Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence Frasier is an American sitcom, a Spin-off of Cheers starring Kelsey Grammer as A miniseries (also mini-series) in a serial Storytelling medium is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes From the Earth to the Moon is a twelve-part HBO Television Miniseries (1998 co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer,
Matt Frewer, perhaps best known as Max Headroom portrayed Kranz in the 1996 TV movie Apollo 11. Matthew Frewer (born January 4, 1958) is a Canadian and American stage TV and film actor
Kranz in fiction
In Shane Johnson's novel Ice, Kranz is still the leader of White Team during the fictional missions Apollo 19 and Apollo 20. Shane Johnson is an American Author best known for the novel Ice. Ice is a Christian alternate history Novel by author Shane Johnson. Due to budget constraints there were many canceled Apollo missions during the Apollo program. In one poignant scene, Kranz rips off his trademark vest and flings it to the floor of Mission Control after one man, instead of three, is recovered from the Apollo 19 splashdown.
Teams, "The Human Factor" and "The Right Stuff"
Kranz was the leader of the "white team", a shift at mission control that contributed to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts. The White Team was the Mission Control shift team under the direction of former NASA flight director Gene Kranz, who served as a flight director between 1965 and 1972 Though Apollo 13 was a mission failure, to Kranz its astronauts' rescue is an example of the "human factor" born out of the 1960s space race. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975 According to Kranz, this factor is what is largely responsible for helping put America on the moon in only a decade. The blend of young intelligent minds working day in and day out by sheer willpower yielded "the right stuff. "
Gene Kranz had this to say about the "human factor": "[they were] people who were energized by a mission. And these teams were capable of moving right on and doing anything America asked them to do in space. " According to him, a few organized examples of this factor included Grumman, who developed the Apollo Lunar Module, North American Aviation, and the Lockheed Corporation. The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U North American Aviation was a major US Aircraft manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft including the T-6 Texan trainer the The Lockheed Corporation (originally Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company was an American aerospace company founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta After the excitement of the 1960s, these companies dissolved into corporate mergings, such as happened when Lockheed became Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin ( is a large multinational Aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology Company formed in 1995 by the merger of Another example of the "human factor" was the ingenuity and hard work by teams during Apollo 13 that developed the emergency plans and sequences as new problems arose during the mission.
Response to Apollo I Launch Pad Fire
Kranz called a meeting of his branch and flight control team on the Monday morning following the Apollo I disaster that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Virgil Ivan Grissom, more widely known as Gus Grissom, ( 3 April 1926 – 27 January 1967) was one of the original NASA Edward Higgins White II (LtCol, USAF ( November 14, 1930 &ndash January 27, 1967) was a United States Air Force officer and Roger Bruce Chaffee ( February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was a U He made the following address:
"Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, 'Dammit, stop!' I don't know what Thompson's committee will find as the cause, but I know what I find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job. We were rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, when in our hearts we knew it would take a miracle. We were pushing the schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did. From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: 'Tough' and 'Competent. ' Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write 'Tough and Competent' on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control. "
After the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe quoted this speech in a discussion about what changes should be made in response to the disaster. Sean O'Keefe (born January 27, 1956) is a former Administrator of NASA, leading the space agency from December 2001 to February 2005 Referring to the words "tough and competent," he said, "These words are the price of admission to the ranks of NASA and we should adopt it that way. "
Feelings about life after the Moon
Kranz felt that much of the "human factor" unfortunately dried up after the moon landings, particularly due to the nation seeing the moon landings as a short-term goal against the Russians — and not much more. When asked in spring 2000 if NASA is still the same place today compared to the years of the space race, he replied:
"No. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975 In many ways we have the young people, we have the talent, we have the imagination, we have the technology. But I don't believe we have the leadership and the willingness to accept risk, to achieve great goals. I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation — and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet. "
However, in his book Failure Is Not an Option, he also expressed disappointment that support for space exploration dried up after the Apollo program -- indeed, the last three Apollo flights were canceled. His vision for renewing the space program includes:
"[R]evitalize NASA. Lacking a clear goal the team that placed an American on the Moon, NASA, has become just another federal bureaucracy beset by competing agendas and unable to establish discipline within its structure. Although NASA has an amazing array of technology and the most talented workforce in history, it lacks top-level vision. It began its retreat from the inherent risks of space exploration after the Challenger accident. During the last decade its retreat has turned into a rout. The NASA Administrator is appointed by the President and to a great degree represents the current President's views on space. If space is put on the national agenda for the coming national election [2000], a newly elected President will have the opportunity to select new top-level NASA leadership that is committed and willing to take the steps to rebuild the space agency and get America's space program moving again. "
Trivia
- He developed color-coded handbooks for his personal use as instant reference guides for the many technical problems that could develop during a mission. He feared that he would misplace one or more of these handbooks, so he used pictures from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition as book covers. The other controllers knew about this, so if a book went missing, the eye-catching cover would ensure its prompt return to Kranz.
- Kranz is very good friends with Gemini and Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan. Team The Gemini program was managed by the Manned Spacecraft Center Houston Texas under direction of the Office of Manned Space Flight NASA Headquarters Washington Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) is a retired United States Navy officer and a former NASA Astronaut of Czechoslovakian Despite different military backgrounds (Kranz with the Air Force, Cernan with the Navy), both Kranz and Cernan attended the same Roman Catholic parish. Throughout pre-flight scheduling, Kranz served his first time as lead flight director for Cernan's first space mission Gemini 9A, with Kranz serving his last shift as flight director during Cernan's last moon walk on Apollo 17. Gemini 9A (officially Gemini IX-A) was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA 's Gemini program. The two men referred to each other as "Geno"
- In addition to serving as the flight director that landed the Eagle onto the surface of the Moon in 1969, Kranz served as the flight director that oversaw the liftoff of the lunar module Challenger in 1972. That shift would be his last shift as a flight director.
- During the Apollo 13 mission, Kranz never actually used the phrase "Failure is not an option," which was created for the Ron Howard movie Apollo 13. Ronald William Howard (born March 1 1954 is a director and producer as well as an Actor. Although, in public speeches Kranz states he did use the previous phrase (March 2008). However, he so liked the way the line reflected the attitude of mission control, that he used it as the title of his 2000 autobiography. [1]
- In the movie Apollo 13, Kranz (played by actor Ed Harris) is shown unwrapping a package from his wife in Mission Control during pre-flight. The package contains a vest with the Apollo 13 mission shield sewn on, made by Mrs. Kranz, which he dons and then wears throughout the mission. The script implies that this was Kranz family Apollo Mission SOP (standard operating procedure).
References
- ^ Stephen Cass (2005). Apollo 13, We Have a Solution (English). Part II: Page 3. IEEE Spectrum magazine. Retrieved on October 20, 2007.
Sources
- Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz (ISBN 0-7432-0079-9)
- Lost Moon by James Lovell (ISBN 0-671-53464-5)
- The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by Gene Cernan (ISBN 0-312-19906-6)
- Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed by Henry S. James "Jim" Arthur Lovell Jr, (born March 25, 1928) is a former NASA Astronaut, most famous as the commander of Apollo 13 Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) is a retired United States Navy officer and a former NASA Astronaut of Czechoslovakian F. Cooper, Jr. (ISBN 0-8018-5097-5)
External links
- Space Lifeguard: An Interview with Gene Kranz from Space. com posted 2000-04-11
- Apollo 13 Hero Eugene Kranz to Receive Honorary Degree at MSOE Commencement; Captain James Lovell Jr., Commander of Apollo 13, Will be Escort
- Eugene F. KRANZ long interview conducted by Rebecca Wright et al of the Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, nasa. gov, January 8, 1999
- [1] Op-Ed written by Kranz for The Hill. 12th June, 2007.
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