Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., who died July 22, 2019, created the concept of NASA’s Mission Control and developed its organization, operational procedures and culture, then made it a critical element of the success of the nation’s human spaceflight programs. In this image, he’s at his Flight Director console in the Mission Control Center during Gemini-Titan V flight simulation on Aug. 15, 1965.
In his 2001 autobiography “Flight: My Life in Mission Control”, Kraft wrote: “Scientists say there is no life on the moon. I look at the moon today, see the faces from NASA, industry, science and academe who brilliantly sent Americans to that place, and I know differently. The people of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo are blossoms on the moon. Their spirits will live there forever. I was part of the crowd, then part of leadership that opened space travel to human beings. We threw a narrow flash of light across our nation’s history. I was there at the best of times.”
Image Credit: NASA