Christopher Kraft
Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. (born February 28, 1924) is a retired NASA engineer and manager who was instrumental in establishing the agency\'s Mission Control operation. Kraft became NASA\'s first flight director. He was on duty during such historic missions as America\'s first human spaceflight, first human orbital flight, and first spacewalk. At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center), following in the footsteps of his mentor Robert R. Gilruth. He held the position until his 1982 retirement from NASA. During his retirement. More than any other person, Kraft was responsible for shaping the organization and culture of NASA\'s Mission Control. As his protĂŠgĂŠ Glynn Lunney commented, \"the Control Center today ... is a reflection of Chris Kraft.\"When Kraft received the National Space Trophy from the Rotary Club in 1999, the organization described him as \"a driving force in the U.S. human space flight program from its beginnings to the Space Shuttle era, a man whose accomplishments have become legendary. Many Apollo engineers, later to become top managers themselves, considered Kraft to have been one of the best managers in the program. He personally hand-picked and trained an entire generation of NASA flight directors, including John Hodge, Glynn Lunney and Gene Kranz, the last of whom referred to Kraft simply as \"The Teacher.\" In the words of the space historians Murray and Cox, Kraft \"set the tone for one of the most striking features of Flight Operations, unquestioning trustânot of superiors by subordinates, but the other way around.\" The principles that Kraft had inculcated continued to have an impact at Johnson Space Center long after he retired.
