Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. was the original NASA flight director. He began his career as an aeronautical engineer with NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and when NACA became NASA in the late 1950s, was put in charge of ground control for Project Mercury, where he was responsible for developing the technology and procedures for what became known as Mission Control.

In 1962, Kraft had a series of conflicts and disagreements with Astronaut Scott Carpenter which ultimately resulted in Carpenter being permanently grounded.

Kraft personally hand-picked and trained an entire generation of NASA flight directors, including Gene Kranz.