Gene wreath

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Flight Director Gene Kranz

Eugene Francis "Gene" Kranz (born August 17, 1933 in Toledo , Ohio , United States ) is a former NASA flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs .

Kranz, who had a German grandfather, lost his father at the age of seven. After his education at Parks College in St. Louis , Missouri , which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in flight engineering in 1954 , he went to the US Air Force . There he did his pilot training , served in Korea and rose to the rank of captain . In collaboration with the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation , the Air Force conducted test flights from 1955 to 1958. Gene Kranz came this way to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico , where this cooperation for missile test flights continued until 1960.

In 1960, Gene Kranz signed his contract with NASA. He was immediately a member of flight control at Langley Research Center in Hampton , Virginia . He rose to deputy director of flight control for the Mercury program , and in 1964 the flight director for the Gemini program in the new flight control center in Houston .

The different layers in the flight control were marked with colors, and Kranz led the "white team". It was characteristic of him that he always wore vests during flight control, which his wife sewed for him.

In 1968 the entire flight control division was subordinated to him and he became flight director for the Apollo program . In April 1970, Kranz was instrumental in the rescue of the three astronauts Jim Lovell , Jack Swigert and Fred Haise during the Apollo 13 mission . The subsequent Skylab flights were also under his control.

From 1974 to 1983, Kranz was deputy flight director for the STS missions and from 1983 to 1994 their director. After completing the STS-61 shuttle flight , Kranz retired. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his services .

Kranz is married and has six children.

Ring is in the film Apollo 13 of Ed Harris and in Apollo 11 by Matt Frewer embodied.

See also

bibliography

  • Gene Kranz, Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond. Simon & Schuster, 2000, ISBN 0-7432-0079-9

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The American Presidency Project - Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team in Houston. April 18, 1970, Retrieved April 14, 2010 .

Web links

Commons : Gene Kranz  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files