Gene Kranz in a more recent photo.

Eugene F. "Gene" Kranz (17 August 1933–) is a retired NASA flight director and manager. Kranz, who served as a flight director during Project Gemini and Project Apollo, is best known for his trademark flattop hairstyle and the wearing of white vests of different styles and materials whenever his "White Team" was on duty during missions, but was best known for his role in saving the crew of Apollo 13. Image File history File links Recent photo of NASAs very own Gene Kranz. ... Image File history File links Recent photo of NASAs very own Gene Kranz. ... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Flight controller: a space flight control room position at NASAs Mission Control Center. ... Project Gemini insignia Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program in which the United States of America sent humans into space, between Projects Mercury and Apollo, during the years 1963-1966. ... Apollo Program insignia Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle, conducted during the years 1961–1972. ... This article is about the hairstyle. ... Apollo 13 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program. ...

Early years

Kranz was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up on a farm that overlooked the Willys-Overland Jeep production plant. His father, a son of a German immigrant and an Army medic during World War I, died in 1940, when Kranz was only 7 years old. 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. Shortly after receiving his wings, Kranz married Marta Cadena, a daughter of Mexican immigrants who fled from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Kranz was sent to South Korea to fly the F-86 Sabre aircraft for patrol operations around the Korean DMZ. Nickname: The Glass City, T-Town Official website: http://www. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 8 million Full list Military dead: 3 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 6 million Full... DuBourg Hall serves as the administration building for St. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Second Lieutenant is the lowest commissioned rank in many armed forces. ... Seal of the Air Force. ... Lackland Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force located west of San Antonio, Texas, USA. It is located at 29°2323 North, 98°3645 West (29. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... F-86 Sabre at Oshkosh Airshow, 2003 The North American F-86 Sabre was a subsonic combat aircraft developed for the US Air Force. ...

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.S. Air Force at its research center at Holloman Air Force Base. The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer, based near St. ... Holloman AFB is an Air Force base located in Otero County, New Mexico. ...

NASA career

After completing the research tests out at Holloman Air Force Base, Kranz left McDonnell-Douglas and joined the NASA Space Task Group, then at its Langley Research Center in Virginia. Upon joining NASA, he was assigned, by legendary flight director Christopher C. Kraft as a Mission Control Procedures officer for the unmanned Mercury 1 test (dubbed in Kranz's autobiography as the "Four-Inch Flight"). Langley Research Center (LaRC) Oldest of NASAs field centers, LaRC is located in Hampton, Virginia, and focuses primarily on aeronautical research. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 35th 110,862 km² 320 km 690 km 7. ... Chris Kraft redirects here. ... Mission Control Center (MCC) is a unit that manages aerospace flights. ... MR-1 launching the escape rocket. ...

As Procedures Officers, 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 14 tracking stations and 2 tracking ships (via Teletype) located across the globe. Kranz performed this role for all unmanned and manned Mercury flights, including the trailblazing Mercury 3 and Mercury Atlas 6 flights. Cape Canaveral is a city located in Brevard County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 8,829. ... A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is a now largely obsolete electro-mechanical typewriter which can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel, often just a pair of wires. ... Crew Alan Shepard Backup Crew John Glenn Mission parameters Mass: 1,295 kg (apogee) Maximum Altitude: 187. ... // Crew John Glenn (flew on Mercury 6 & STS-95) Backup Crew M. Scott Carpenter Mission Parameters Mass: 1,352 kg Perigee: 159 km Apogee: 265 km Inclination: 32. ...

After Mercury 6, he was promoted to assistant flight director for Flight Director Kraft for the Mercury 7 flight of astronaut Scott Carpenter in October, 1962. 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 flight director and served his first shift, the so-called "operations shift," for the Gemini 4 mission in 1965, the first U.S. EVA and 4-day flight. After Gemini, he served as flight director for Apollos 7 and 9, but it was his role as flight director for Apollo 11, that his team guided the LM Eagle on the moon on July 20, 1969. Alternate meaning: Mercury Seven Crew Scott Carpenter The original prime crew for Mercury Atlas-7 was Deke Slayton, however Slayton was controversially removed from all flight crew availability after the discovery of cardiac arrhythmia during a training run in the G-loading centrifuge. ... Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter inspects the heat shield of his Aurora 7 space capsule Malcolm Scott Carpenter (born May 1, 1925) was one of the original seven astronauts selected in 1959 for Project Mercury. ... Gemini 4 (officially Gemini IV) was a 1965 manned space flight in NASAs Gemini program. ... Apollo 11 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program and the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ...

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 dealt with the initial hours of the unfolding accident. 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. Apollo 13 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program. ... A spacecrafts service module is a compartment containing a variety of support systems used for spacecraft operations, but not any habitable area. ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States, considered the equivalent of the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. ...

Kranz would continue as flight director until Apollo 17, and then was promoted to Deputy Director of NASA Mission Operations in 1974, becoming its director in 1983. He retired in 1994 after the successful STS-61 flight that repaired the optically flawed Hubble Space Telescope in 1993. In addition to writing "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. He and his wife Marta, along with their six children (1 boy and 5 girls) and several grandchildren, still reside in Texas. Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program, and was the sixth and last mission to date to land on the Moon. ... // Crew Commander: Richard O. Covey (4) Pilot: Kenneth D. Bowersox (2) Payload Commander: F. Story Musgrave (5) Mission Specialist 1: Kathryn C. Thornton (3) Mission Specialist 2: Claude Nicollier (2) - ESA Switzerland Mission Specialist 3: Jeffrey A. Hoffman (4) Mission Specialist 5: Thomas D. Akers (3) Mission Parameters Mass: Orbiter... The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a telescope in orbit around the Earth. ... History Channel logo. ...

Kranz in the movies

Gene Kranz was portrayed by Ed Nelson in the 1974 TV movie Houston, We've Got a Problem. He was portrayed by Ed Harris in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, the actor earning an Academy Award nomination for his performance. In the 1996 TV movie Apollo 11 Kranz was played by Matt Frewer. In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon he was played by Dan Butler. Edwin Stafford Nelson (born December 21, 1928 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American actor. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... Houston, Weve Got a Problem, a 1974 TV-movie, starred Ed Nelson in the role of Gene Kranz. ... Ed Harris Edward Allen Ed Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Apollo 13 is a 1995 film portrayal of the ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Matt Frewer (b. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... From the Earth to the Moon was a twelve part HBO television miniseries (1998) co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Tom Hanks, and Michael Bostick detailing the landmark Apollo expeditions to the Moon during the 1960s and early 1970s. ... Daniel E. Butler (born December 2, 1954 in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an openly gay television actor who is most famous for his role as Bulldog Briscoe on the series Frasier. ...

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. 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. Fortunately, no such scene ever happened in the history of Project Apollo--though perhaps the deaths of Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee were bad enough. Shane Johnson is an author, a graphic artist, and an amateur historian specializing in Project Apollo. ... Ice is an alternate history novel concerning a fictional Apollo 19 mission that suffers a major system failure. ... Due to budget constraints there were many cancelled Apollo missions during Project Apollo. ... Apollo Program insignia Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle, conducted during the years 1961–1972. ... Gus Grissom Virgil Ivan Gus Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was a U.S. Air Force pilot who became one of the first American astronauts and one of the first to die in the U.S. space program. ... Edward White Edward Higgins White, II (November 14, 1930 - January 27, 1967) was an American astronaut. ... Roger Chaffee Roger Bruce Chaffee (February 15, 1935 - January 27, 1967) was a U.S. Navy pilot who became an American astronaut in the Apollo program. ...

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. To Kranz, however, this was yet another fantastic example of the "human factor" - as he calls it - that had been born out of the 1960s' space race. According to Kranz, this factor is what is largely responsible for helping put America on the moon in only a decade. Powered by young minds and hard workers, those who worked day in and day out, they had the perfect blend of intelligence and sheer willpower - more simply, "the right stuff." 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. ... Apollo 13 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...

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. After the excitement of the 1960s, these companies dissolved into corporate mergings, such as happened when Lockheed became Lockheed Martin. 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 a new problems arose during the mission. The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ... The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program to achieve the transit from Moon orbit to the surface and back. ... North American Aviation, Inc. ... The Lockheed SR-71 was remarkably advanced for its time and remains unsurpassed in many areas of performance. ... Lockheed/BAE/Northrop F-35 Lockheed Trident missile C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ... Apollo 13 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program. ...

Gene Kranz, uncharacteristically wearing a dark vest--probably during a training drill (courtesy of NASA)

Eugene F. Gene Kranz, provided by NASA. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Eugene F. Gene Kranz, provided by NASA. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

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 any different today compared to the years of the space race, he replied: "No. 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." NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Titan II rockets launched 12 U.S. Gemini spacecraft in the 1960s. ...

On January 14, 2004, Kranz' statement received an answer. Only ten days after the landing of Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration - a new space initiative to promote new goals for NASA that includes missions back to the moon and first-time manned missions to Mars. January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ... Image from NASA site Two planned configurations for a return to the moon, heavy lift (left) and crew (right) The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. ... NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... For the Roman god, see Mars (mythology). ...

References

• Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz (ISBN 0743200799)
• Lost Moon by James Lovell (ISBN 0671534645)
• The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by Gene Cernan (ISBN 0312199066)
• Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed by Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr. (ISBN 0801850975)

Portrait of Apollo 13 Commander James A. Lovell, Jr. ... Eugene A. Cernan (born March 14, 1934) is a former United States astronaut. ...

External links

• Space Lifeguard: An Interview with Gene Kranz from Space.com
• Apollo 13 Hero Eugene Kranz to Receive Honorary Degree at MSOE Commencement; Captain James Lovell Jr., Commander of Apollo 13, Will be Escort