Mission Operations Director Eugene Kranz (foreground) and his colleagues, laughing, listen to crewmembers’ commentary onboard Space Shuttle Discovery, during the STS-26 mission in 1988. In the Flight Control Room of Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control Center with Kranz are JSC Director Aaron Cohen and Flight Crew Operations Deputy Director Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr. (far right).
During his storied career, Kranz worked as an aerospace engineer, a fighter pilot and retired as Director of Mission Operations at the Johnson Space Center. He was one of the original Project Mercury assistant flight directors and the flight director for the first lunar landing on Apollo 11. Kranz is perhaps best known for the role he played for directing the successful Mission Control team efforts to save the crew of Apollo 13.
Image Credit: NASA