Christopher C. Kraft Jr. facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Christopher C. Kraft Jr.
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Chris Kraft as director of Johnson Space Center in 1979
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| Born |
Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr.
February 28, 1924 |
| Died | July 22, 2019 (aged 95) |
| Alma mater | Virginia Tech, B.S. 1944 |
| Occupation | NASA flight director Director of Johnson Space Center |
| Spouse(s) | Betty Anne Kraft (m. 1950) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | ASME Medal (1973) Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership (1979) |
Christopher Columbus "Chris" Kraft Jr. (February 28, 1924 – July 22, 2019) was an American NASA engineer and manager. He was important in the creation of the agency's Mission Control operation.
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Early life
Kraft Jr. was born in Phoebus, Virginia. He studied at the Virginia Tech and graduated in 1944.
Career
Kraft was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the organization before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He worked for over ten years in aeronautical research before being asked in 1958 to join the Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America's first man in space. He was given the job to the flight operations division, Kraft became NASA's first flight director.
He was on duty during such historic missions as America's first manned spaceflight, first manned orbital flight, and first spacewalk.
He retired in April 1982.
In 2011, the Mission Control Center building was named after him.
Personal life
In 1950, Kraft married Betty Anne Turnbull. They had two children. He was an Episcopalian. Kraft died on July 22, 2019 in Houston, Texas, aged 95, two days after the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moonwalks.
Images for kids
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Mission Control as it was during Project Mercury
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Kraft works at his console inside the Flight Control area of the Mercury Control Center.
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Chris Kraft (seated) confers with Walt Williams and others during Mercury-Atlas 9.
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During Gemini 5, Kraft (seated at center of console) confers with flight controllers and astronauts. Malfunctioning fuel cells nearly forced the early end of the mission.
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Chris Kraft and Robert R. Gilruth pictured in Mission Control
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Kraft with his new flight directors before the Gemini 4 mission. (Clockwise from lower right: Kraft, Gene Kranz, Glynn Lunney and John Hodge)
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Kraft shows President Ronald Reagan around Mission Control during the STS-2 mission in 1981.
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Time capsule placed in Kraft's honor at Air Power Park in Hampton, Virginia
