NASA’sfirstflightdirectorandsculptorofMission Control
It's a room that has held the
tensions of engineers, astronauts
and other employees of NASA for
decades: Mission Control at the
Johnson Space Center in Houston,
Texas. The man behind this historic
establishment was Chris Kraft,
who played a vital role in the history
of NASA.
Christopher C. Kraft Jr. was born
on 28 February 1924 in Phoebus,
Virginia. His early years were not
centred around aviation, as many
of the stories go for the astronauts
during the Mercury, Gemini and
Apollo programs. Mechanical
engineering came first, which he
studied in 1941 at the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute. During this
time he experienced the workings of
the military Corps of Cadets, and he
claims it was these experiences that
sculpted the personality that gave
him great success at NASA.
During the rise of the jet age in
the 1950s, Kraft became interested
in aviation. Unfortunately he had
sustained burns when he was just
threeyearsoldthatdeemedhim
physicallyincapableformilitary
service.Insteadhemadehistrade
inengineering,andwiththatcamethe role of project engineer on high-
priority test f lights for the US Navy.
In November 1958 NASA had
assembled its Space Task Group,
consisting of 35 members that
were tasked with managing the
United States’ manned spacef light
programme. It was headed by
Robert Gilruth, who Kraft had
known from his days at Langley
Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory
over a decade prior. Gilruth
presented an invitation to Kraft,
which he accepted, and he was
thrown into the responsibilities of
the first ever f light director, putting
into place the mission procedures
and sorting operational issues
that came along with the manned
spaceflight programme.
Kraft’s career then moved from
research engineer to manager of
engineering and organisation.
Along with developing the
mission procedures that would
see NASA’s manned spacef light
programme prosper and overtake
the Soviet Union in the Space
Race,hewasalsoakeyparticipant
whenitcametooverseeingthe
constructionofNASA’snew
MannedSpaceCenter(MSC)–what is now known as the Johnson
Space Center.
Kraft served as flight director
during the historic early moments
of the spacef light programme,
which included the successful sub-
orbital and orbital flights of Project
Mercury and the first spacewalk of
the Gemini program. Afterwards
he served as director of flight
operations at the MSC, still proving
vitally important in the most
successful period of spaceflight
through to Apollo 12 in 1969. He
took other roles afterwards, which
saw him serve in the remaining
Apollo missions, the Skylab space
station construction, the Apollo-
Soyuz space docking and the first
f lights of the Space Shuttle program.
For his efforts Kraft obtained
many awards, including the NASA
Outstanding Leadership Medal,
four NASA Distinguished Service
Medals, and the Distinguished
Citizen Award, given by the
City of Hampton, Virginia. All of
these efforts are detailed in his
autobiography,Flight:MyLifein
MissionControl. Sadly,Kraftpassed
awayon 22 July2019,justafter
celebrating 50 yearssinceApollo11.Future PLC Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill,
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HEROES
F SPACE
Christopher C. Kraft
NASA’s Mission Control
Center has been
operating for over 50
years in support of
space missions©NASAFuture PLC is a public
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