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| Christopher Columbus Kraft (1924-2019). Portrait by NASA. |
So many people involved have testified that Chris Kraft was THE great operational leader and authority at the Mission Control Center. With his 37 years, he was one of the oldest in the space program, when JFK set the target of the Moon landing in 1961, and he was a natural born perfect leader for the operational parts of the program around Mission Control and the manned space flight center in Houston.
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| Mission Control, Houston |
He was a prime bearer of the true pioneering spirit - "The can-do-spirit" that animated the Moon-program from top to bottom. As he put it
"If we'd been older and wiser, we would have known that we couldn´t get it all done. But we weren't. So we did it." ("Flight", Chris Kraft).According to, among many others, Gene Kranz (Failure is not an option) Chris Kraft had a very directly honest, to-the-point management-style, and no one was ever left in doubt if he had made a mistake according to Kraft. During the unmanned Gemini 2 mission, the lights went out in the old Mission Control room at the Cape. Luckily they were backed up by the team headed by John Hodge in the new Mission Control Center in Houston so the mission succeeded. Kraft was not happy though: ""Find out what happened" he barked "and fix it so it never happens again."" ... "In debriefing, Hodge jokingly told Kraft he should carry a flashlight with him for Gemini 3. Kraft didn't laugh.".
The demanding leadership of Christopher Columbus Kraft was a key component of the ultimate success of the Apollo Program. People simply needed it, to be pushed beyond their limits, which again was a necessary condition for achieving Kennedy's goal.
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| "Find out what happened" he barked "and fix it so it never happens again.". And so, the lights never went out in Mission Control again. The demanding leadership of Christopher Columbus Kraft was a key component of the ultimate success of the Apollo Program. (Kraft at the Mercury Control Center. By NASA.) |
Kraft wrote an obviously very read-worthy auto-biography called "Flight" (He was the first Flight Director, call-sign "FLIGHT" - the guy with the ultimate responsibility for the mission - a responsibility and an authority that could NOT be overridden by anyone - not even the President of the USA - Kraft himself insisted, it had to be that way!).
After the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, Christ Kraft was heading no less than four divisions of the Apollo program: Flight Control, Landing and Recovery, Mission Planning and Analysis and Mission Support. "As a result of his workload, Chris would never again sit in the chair as Flight Director" (Gene Kranz, Failure is not an option). The old master passed the torch of "Flight" on to his able students, as he was direly needed as leader elsewhere in the Apollo Program.
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| Chris Kraft with President Reagan. In 1972, Kraft became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center). |
Chris Kraft was going strong 'til the end - obviously still crystal clear in thought and strong in spirit, when he very appropriately, had the closing lines in the fantastic documentary "Mission Control. The Unsung Heroes Of Apollo" (2017) that I just watched the other night on Danish TV, as part of the 50-years celebration. Not an eye was dry in my living room, and neither were Chris Kraft's:
"I'm just proud of the people that were involved. They never let me down...They never let their country down. If you are looking for patriots, they are they - every one of them."You can see the clip at YouTube here
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| Kraft on his colleagues at Mission Control: "I'm just proud of the people that were involved. They never let me down...They never let their country down. If you are looking for patriots, they are they - every one of them." |
Chris Kraft used his Christian faith actively, as a source of strength and inspiration. At nights after his usual 12-15 hours workday he taught a bible study class at his local church. That did not always turn out so smooth: "...I lacked the fundamentalist verve and drove people away ... It was hard not to be modern when I spent my working days sending men into space.".
Thank you Christopher Columbus Kraft. You will live forever. May future generation be inspired by your strong spirit.
