Topic: Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-12-2011 11:54 PM
NASA release
Naming of Mission Control Center
NASA is recognizing Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., America's first human space mission flight director, by naming the mission control center in his honor for his service to the nation and its space programs.
As flight director, Kraft managed all of the Mercury and several Gemini missions, and was in that role for America's first human spaceflight, first human orbital flight, and first spacewalk. He also was one of the designers and implementers of the Mission Control Center, the heart of all NASA crewed space missions.
Kraft joined NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in 1945. In 1958, he joined the newly created NASA as one of the original members of the Space Task Group organized to design and manage Project Mercury. He moved from Langley Research Center in Virginia with that group to Houston in 1962, and was assigned to develop the facilities, systems and techniques necessary to support human spaceflights.
Kraft served as director of the Johnson center from January 1972 to August 1982. After his retirement from federal service in 1982, he served as an aerospace consultant for numerous companies.
Speaking at April 14 naming ceremony, which will include an unveiling of the building's new nameplate, will be Mike Coats, JSC center director; John McCullough, current chief of NASA flight director's office; Gene Kranz, Kraft's successor as flight director and former director of Mission Operations, and Glynn Lunney, a former flight director who worked with Kraft, and also a former Space Shuttle Program manager and vice president of United Space Alliance.
mjanovec Member
Posts: 3811 From: Midwest, USA Registered: Jul 2005
posted 04-13-2011 10:27 AM
I saw that Kraft's name was already installed in large letters on the outside of the building (on both sides) when I visited JSC last Saturday. I was a little puzzled by that, having never heard (before now) that the building was to be named in his honor.
Congratulations to Christopher Kraft for the well deserved honor!
NASA held a ceremony on Thursday to name its "magnificent cathedral of manned spaceflight," the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, after the man who not only led the space agency's first missions, but who 50 years ago, laid the foundation for what Mission Control would come to be...
Posts: 3307 From: Houston, TX Registered: May 2001
posted 04-15-2011 07:26 PM
Very nice pics, Robert. Thanks. Congratulations to Mr. Kraft.
Henk Boshuijer Member
Posts: 450 From: Netherlands Registered: May 2007
posted 04-15-2011 07:33 PM
Congratulations to Mr. Kraft. He is a very generous man and a great Flight director.
East-Frisian Member
Posts: 586 From: Germany Registered: Apr 2005
posted 04-16-2011 02:54 AM
That was a good idea from NASA. Congrats.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2476 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 04-16-2011 05:53 AM
Great news!!
rjb1elec Member
Posts: 212 From: Merseyside, England Registered: Oct 2004
posted 04-16-2011 09:02 AM
Fantastic pictures of a truly inspirational individual who served his nation with determination and pride, and still inspires today.
Mike Z Member
Posts: 451 From: Ellicott City, Maryland Registered: Dec 2005
posted 04-16-2011 07:17 PM
I think it's great when places are named after great people while they're still with us so they can be honored while still alive. They have done that several times here in Baltimore.
music_space Member
Posts: 1179 From: Canada Registered: Jul 2001
posted 04-16-2011 07:38 PM
Do we know which of the flight directors and flight controllers who were in attendance or were invited?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-16-2011 08:08 PM
There were a lot, especially if you include flight controllers. Flight directors alone numbered over two dozen.
I'm not sure I can list/recognize them all but of those I do know offhand (in alphabetical order): Matt Abbott, LeRoy Cain, Tony Ceccacci, Bob Dempsey, Paul Dye, Chris Edelen, Phil Engelauf, Linda Ham, Annette Hasbrook, Milt Heflin, Richard Jones, Norm Knight, Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, Bryan Lunney, Glynn Lunney, John McCullough, John Shannon and Scott Stover.
Also present were capcoms John Young and Fred Haise, and former JSC director George Abbey.
astro-nut Member
Posts: 946 From: Washington, IL Registered: Jan 2006
posted 04-18-2011 06:03 PM
Congratulations to Mr. Kraft!! Well deserved and a great tribute to our first flight director.
jklier Member
Posts: 54 From: Austin, Texas Registered: Aug 2007
The original plan for my visit was simply to tour the one restored Apollo-era mission control room, to take plenty of pictures, and to give Ars readers a good technical understanding of how "Mission Control" worked during the Apollo era. NASA, however, upped the ante when it assigned my tour guide — none other than Sy Liebergot.
LM-12 Member
Posts: 3208 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2010
posted 01-08-2015 09:15 AM
Some interior views of the photographs lining the walls of Mission Control Houston, including the lobby and MCC viewing room. Not sure if it looks like that today.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-27-2016 03:58 PM
NASA video
Since the days of Gemini, all of America's human spaceflight programs have been controlled by men and women stationed in one of several flight control rooms at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston: the International Space Station flight controllers recently moved into an upgraded facility in the room that hosted the teams during the first manned flights of Apollo and the space shuttle.
Here's a tour of "Mission Control Houston" through the years, from its first generation through the facility ready for the flights of Orion, the spacecraft that will take humans farther into space than they've ever gone before.