Who is Gene Kranz and why is he famous?
Gene Kranz is best known for his stellar performance as flight director for the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. But Kranz is also known for another thing: his white vests.
What did Bill Kranz do in Apollo 13?
Apollo 13. Kranz is perhaps best known for his role as lead flight director during NASA's Apollo 13 manned Moon landing mission. Kranz's team was on duty when part of the Apollo 13 Service Module exploded and they dealt with the initial hours of the unfolding accident.
What is the name of the actor who played Apollo 13?
The first portrayal was in the 1974 TV movie Houston, We've Got a Problem, where he is played by Ed Nelson. He is played by Ed Harris in the 1995 film Apollo 13, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Matt Frewer portrays him in the 1996 TV movie Apollo 11.
What was the name of the actor who played Dr Kranz?
Kranz has appeared as a character in several dramatizations of the Apollo program. The first portrayal was in the 1974 TV movie Houston, We've Got a Problem, where he is played by Ed Nelson. He is played by Ed Harris in the 1995 film Apollo 13, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.
Did Jim Lovell make a cameo appearance in Apollo 13?
He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He co-authored the 1994 book Lost Moon, on which the 1995 film Apollo 13, in which he appeared in a cameo, was based.
Did Gene Kranz say this will be our finest hour?
Quotes. NASA Director : This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever experienced. Gene Kranz : With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.
What is the most famous line from the movie Apollo 13?
“I have never lost an American in space, sure as hell aren't going to lose one now. This crew is coming home. You got to believe it.
Did Gene Kranz walk on the moon?
Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 commander, was the first human to walk on the moon. Kranz was the man who guided him the last miles onto its dusty, pockmarked surface. Of America's secular heroes, few stir the spirit as deeply as the astronauts who a generation ago left the first footsteps on the moon.
What does Gene Kranz think of for all mankind?
Turn away from the future. Bogged down by war, poverty, hatred, and the future, well, the future will belong to the Soviet Union. They will be the ones reaching into space for all of mankind.
Which Apollo missions were canceled Why?
The flights planned for Apollo 15 and Apollo 19 were cancelled in September, 1970, the remaining missions were then renumbered 15 through 17. According to some reports, however, the initial reason for cancelling missions was President Nixon's concern about safety.
Did the Apollo 13 crew survive?
The command module of Apollo 13 entered Earth's atmosphere and splashed down on target on April 17 at 1:07 PM Eastern Standard Time. The mission has been referred to as a successful failure, in that all the crew members survived a catastrophic accident.
What does Tom Hanks say in Apollo 13?
Jim Lovell : [narrating] Our mission was called "a successful failure," in that we returned safely but never made it to the moon.
What do astronauts say when they have a problem?
The words actually spoken, initially by Swigert, were "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here"....Houston, we have a problem.Origin/etymologyApollo 13 (mission)Coined byJack Swigert1 more row
Did Apollo 23 explode?
Mission Patch Apollo 23 was an aborted mission as the Saturn V was destroyed before launch on August 24, 1974 in an explosion that killed 12 NASA staff, including Gene Kranz.
Who had to miss the flight of Apollo 13 because of the threat of German measles?
Among the many unsung heroes laboring to save the crew of the ill-fated Apollo 13 was the aerospace engineer and rookie astronaut Ken Mattingly. Days before launch, he had been bumped from the third lunar landing attempt after being exposed to the measles. Mattingly usually downplays his role in the rescue.
What did Gene Kranz do for Apollo 13?
Apollo 13. Kranz is perhaps best known for his role as lead flight director (nicknamed "White Flight") during NASA's Apollo 13 crewed Moon landing mission. Kranz's team was on duty when part of the Apollo 13 Service Module exploded and they dealt with the initial hours of the unfolding accident.
Who said Houston we have a problem in the movie Apollo 13?
HOUSTON, Texas -- It was April 13, 1970 that the now famous words were spoken from Apollo 13, "Houston, we've had a problem." Apollo 13 had just experienced an explosion and astronaut Jim Lovell called mission control in Houston to report the problem.
Who said failure is not an option?
Gene KranzNo movie is perfectly historically accurate, but Ron Howard's masterful Apollo 13 comes surprisingly close, especially Ed Harris's Oscar-nominated performance as Gene Kranz, then NASA's Director of Flight Operations, who utters the movie's most memorable line: “Failure is not an option.” The real Kranz never actually ...
What did Gene Kranz do?
Gene Kranz may be the most famous flight director in NASA's history. He directed the actual landing portion of the first mission to put men on the moon, Apollo 11, and led Mission Control in saving the crew of Apollo 13 after an oxygen tank exploded on the way to the lunar surface.
When did Gene Kranz retire?
1994Kranz retired from NASA in 1994 after 37 years of federal service, and is currently a consultant and speaker. “Failure is not an option,” the motto that carried him through the Apollo 13 crisis, is a major theme of his motivational message.
What is the name of the movie that Gene Kranz wrote?
After retiring in 1994, Kranz has continued his lasting legacy in the world of space and flight. In 2000, Kranz published his autobiography titled Failure Is Not An Option, borrowing from the line used in the 1995 Apollo 13 film by actor Ed Harris. The History Channel later used it to adapt a documentary about Mission Control in 2004. Starting in 2017, Kranz helped kickstart and direct the restoration of the Mission Control Room in the Johnson Space Center to the appearance and function of its 1969 use during the Apollo 11 mission. The five million dollar project was intended to be completed for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, and for his efforts Kranz was recognized by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and October 23rd, 2018 was declared "Gene Kranz Day". During the 2018 To the Moon and Beyond luncheon hosted by Space Center Houston, The Gene Kranz Scholarship was started, geared towards funding young students to take part in activities and training for careers in STEM. Ohio State Legislature introduced House Bill 358 to designate August 17th "Gene Kranz Day" in fall of 2019. As of June 2020 the bill has passed the state house and awaits the state senate. Post-retirement Kranz became a flight engineer on a restored Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, flying at air shows throughout the United States for six years. Kranz has also continued to give motivational speeches and talks about his experiences with the space programs throughout the years.
Who is Gene Kranz?
Eugene Francis "Gene" Kranz (born August 17, 1933) is an American aerospace engineer, a former fighter pilot, and a retired NASA Flight Director and manager. Kranz served as NASA's second Chief Flight Director, directing missions of the Gemini and Apollo programs, including the first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11.
Why did Kranz say failure is not an option?
Kranz chose it as the title of his 2000 autobiography because he liked the way the line reflected the attitude of mission control. In the book, he states, "a creed that we [NASA's Mission Control Center] all lived by: 'Failure is not an option'," though the book does not indicate that the phrase is apocryphal.
Why did Kranz say the human factor dried up after the Moon landings?
Kranz said that much of the "human factor" dried up after the Moon landings, particularly because the United States viewed the Moon landings as a short-term goal to beat the Soviet Union – and not much more. When asked in spring 2000 if NASA is still the same place today as it was in the years of the space race, he replied:
What did Kranz do in high school?
Kranz was interested in space at a young age; in high school he wrote a thesis on the topic of a single-stage (SSTO) rocket to the Moon. The thesis was titled "The Design and Possibilities of the Interplanetary Rocket". Following his high school graduation in 1951, Kranz went to college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Saint Louis University 's Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology in 1954. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, completing pilot training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas in 1955. Shortly after receiving his wings, Kranz married Marta Cadena, a daughter of Mexican immigrants who fled from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Kranz was sent to South Korea to fly the F-86 Sabre aircraft for patrol operations around the Korean DMZ.
When did Kranz retire from NASA?
Kranz continued as a Flight Director through Apollo 17, when he worked his last shift as a flight director overseeing the mission liftoff, and then was promoted to Deputy Director of NASA Mission Operations in 1974, becoming Director in 1983. He was in Mission Control during the January 28, 1986, loss of Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-51-L launch. He retired from NASA in 1994 after the successful STS-61 flight that repaired the optically flawed Hubble Space Telescope in 1993.
What was Kranz's first mission?
After MA-6, he was promoted to Assistant Flight Director for the MA-7 flight of Scott Carpenter in May 1962. MA-7 was his first mission as assistant flight director (AFD); he was under Kraft (the flight director of MA-7). Kranz and Kraft were not the sole reason that MA-7 was saved that would be attributed to the whole efforts of Mission Control, but they played a major role.
What is Gene Kranz known for?
Gene Kranz is best known for his stellar performance as flight director for the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. But Kranz is also known for another thing: his white vests. Kranz’s vests had legendary status around mission control, and also in the minds of the public after actor Ed Harris wore an exact replica of Kranz’s most famous vest in the 1995 movie, Apollo 13. Kranz’s vests represented the strong and can-do approach that pervaded his mission control team, especially during the Apollo 13 mission in which the astronauts’ lives were at stake.
Who was the actor who put on the white vest in Apollo 13?
However, after Apollo 13 Kranz continued to wear his work vest. You can watch the scene from Apollo 13 where Ed Harris , playing Kranz, puts on the white vest to his team’s applause (fast-forward to 3:24).
What color were Gene's vests?
She told Smithsonian magazine in April 2010, “There were three Mission Control teams—red, white and blue—and Gene’s was the white team, so his vests were always white.”. From that first Gemini mission onward, Marta made a white vest for every launch, plus a second celebratory vest to wear for the splashdown.
What color vest does Kranz wear?
Kranz is now a motivational speaker, using his experiences with Apollo 13 as the basis for his talks. He continues to wear white vests. As is the tradition at NASA, the color white was retired as a team color from NASA mission control upon Kranz’s departure.
When did Kranz start wearing a vest?
Kranz started wearing a different white vest for each mission beginning with the first time he served as flight controller, Gemini IV, on June 3, 1965. Knowing Kranz’s penchant for wearing three-piece suits, his wife, Marta, a skilled seamstress, came up with the idea.
Who asked Kranz to donate a vest?
Before his appearance as speaker at the John H. Glenn Lecture in 2005, curator Margaret Weitekamp asked Kranz about donating a vest to the national collection. Kranz said he would loan a vest, but not donate one.
When did Kranz retire?
He went on to become deputy director of NASA Mission Operations, then director. He retired in 1994. In retirement, Kranz wrote his memoir, Failure Is Not an Option, which was adapted for television on the History Channel in 2003. In 2008, he appeared throughout the Discovery Channel mini-series, When We Left Earth.
What leadership style did Gene Kranz use in Apollo 13?
According to Bass (1999), the leadership style that would best define Gene Kranz’s actions and leadership skills in the film Apollo 13 is that of transformational leadership.
Who played Gene Kranz in the movie?
Of the mission control operators in Houston, Texas, Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris) was considerably the primary character in the film. Kranz, the mission control leader, took his role very seriously.
How did Kranz show respect for the team?
He showed respect for the team members. He communicated the plan and he showed a sense of urgency for their actions. In this, Kranz showed that his leadership skills were able to bring out the potential in each of the team members.
What was Kranz's only concern?
Magretta (2002) explains that, once the entirety of the crew both on the ground and in space realized that Kranz was only concerned with the reentry plan, the ability to focus on the new mission became immediately exclusive.
What is the primary take from the movie Gene Kranz?
The primary take from this film and specifically the character of Gene Kranz is that a leader must have extensive knowledge in their field as well as about the needs of the team members.
Who is the leader in Apollo 13?
Leadership in Apollo 13: Gene Kranz. Leadership is not always considered in terms of a particular style in the very moment that these skills are used but are rather studied and scrutinized after the event has already taken place. This does not mean that the necessary skills have not been fine-tuned prior to needing them but it simply means ...
What movie depicted the spacecraft and its team of astronauts as they left the earth and entered into space in?
Movie Summary. In a media portrayed rendition of NASA’s third lunar mission, the film Apollo 13 depicted the spacecraft and its team of astronauts as they left the earth and entered into space in an attempt to land on the moon.
What movie was Apollo 13?
The screenplay by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert dramatizes the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission and is an adaptation of the 1994 book Lost Moon: The ...
What movie did Gene Kranz play in?
Harris described Gene Kranz as "corny and like a dinosaur", but respected by the crew. Apollo 13 would be Harris' second space travel-themed movie; he had starred as pioneering astronaut John Glenn in 1983's The Right Stuff.
Why did Lovell fly Apollo 13?
Three months later, as Lovell conducts a VIP tour of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, his boss Deke Slayton informs him that because of problems with Alan Shepard 's crew , his crew will fly Apollo 13 instead of Apollo 14. Lovell, Ken Mattingly, and Fred Haise train for their new mission. A few days before launch, Mattingly is exposed to German Measles, and the flight surgeon demands his replacement with Mattingly's backup, Jack Swigert. Lovell resists breaking up his team but relents when Slayton threatens to bump his crew to a later mission. Marilyn has a nightmare about her husband getting killed in space as the launch date approaches but goes to the Kennedy Space Center the night before launch to see him off.
What module did Apollo 13 use to get to the moon?
After the third stage fires to send Apollo 13 to the Moon, Swigert performs the maneuver to connect the command module Odyssey to the Lunar Module Aquarius and pull it away from the spent rocket. Three days into the mission, the crew makes a television transmission, which the networks decline to broadcast live.
How good is Apollo 13?
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that the film has an overall approval rating of 96%, based on 92 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 8.17/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "In recreating the troubled space mission, Apollo 13 pulls no punches: it's a masterfully told drama from director Ron Howard, bolstered by an ensemble of solid performances." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 77 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A+ to F.
How much did Apollo 13 make?
Box-office performance. The film was a box-office success, bringing in $355,237,933 worldwide. The film's widest release was 2,347 theaters. The film's opening weekend and the following two weeks placed it at #1 with a US gross of $25,353,380, which made up 14.7% of the total US gross. Apollo 13 box office revenue.
How was the movie Apollo filmed?
While planning the film, director Ron Howard decided that every shot of the film would be original and that no mission footage would be used . The spacecraft interiors were constructed by the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center 's Space Works, which also restored the Apollo 13 command module. Two individual Lunar Modules and two command modules were constructed for filming. While each was a replica, composed of some of the original Apollo materials, they were built so that different sections were removable, which enabled filming to take place inside the capsules. Space Works also built modified Command and Lunar Modules for filming inside a Boeing KC-135 reduced-gravity aircraft, and the pressure suits worn by the actors, which are exact reproductions of those worn by the Apollo astronauts, right down to the detail of being airtight. When suited up with their helmets locked in place, the actors were cooled by air pumped into the suits, and so that they could breathe, exactly as in launch preparations for the real Apollo missions.
What movie did Gene Kranz play in?
Recently I wrote about Gene Kranz, and a leadership lesson we can take from the portrayal of him in the movie Apollo 13.
What is Kranz's dictum?
Following that accident, Kranz addressed his team. The resulting speech became known as “The Kranz Dictum”. Here it is: ”Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test.
Overview
In popular culture
Kranz has appeared as a character in several dramatizations of the Apollo program. The first portrayal was in the 1974 TV movie Houston, We've Got a Problem, where he is played by Ed Nelson. He is played by Ed Harris in the 1995 film Apollo 13, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Matt Frewer portrays him in the 1996 TV movie Apollo 11. He is portrayed by Dan Butler in the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the …
Early years
Kranz was born August 17, 1933, in Toledo, Ohio, and attended Central Catholic High School. He grew up on a farm that overlooked the Willys-Overland Jeep production plant. His father, Leo Peter Kranz, was the son of a German immigrant, and served as an Army medic during World War I. His father died in 1940, when Eugene was only seven years old. Kranz has two older sisters, Louise and Helen.
NASA career
After completing the research tests at Holloman Air Force Base, Kranz left McDonnell Aircraft and joined the NASA Space Task Group, then at its Langley Research Center in Virginia. Upon joining NASA, he was assigned, by flight director Christopher C. Kraft, as a Mission Control procedures officer for the uncrewed Mercury-Redstone 1 (MR-1) test (dubbed in Kranz's autobiography a…
Family
Kranz has six children with his wife, Marta: Carmen (born 1958), Lucy (1959), Joan Frances (1961), Mark (1963), Brigid (1964), and Jean Marie (1966). In a NASA article, Lessons from My Father, Kranz’s youngest daughter Jeannie mentioned that her dad was a very “engaged” father and likened him to the character Ward Cleaver in the television show Leave it to Beaver.
"Failure is not an option"
Kranz has become associated with the phrase "failure is not an option." It was uttered by actor Ed Harris, playing Kranz, in the 1995 film Apollo 13. Kranz then used it as the title of his 2000 autobiography. Later it became the title of a 2004 television documentary about NASA, as well as of that documentary's sequel, Beyond the Moon: Failure Is Not an Option 2. Kranz travels all over the world giving a motivational lecture titled "Failure Is Not an Option," including the historic Apoll…
Teams, "the human factor" and "the right stuff"
Each Flight Director took a different color as a designator; the first three Flight Directors chose red, white, and blue, and each was identified as "_____ Flight" (a tradition that continues to this day). Thus, Kranz was White Flight and was the leader of the "White Team", one of the flight control teams whose shift at Mission Control contributed to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts. Though Apollo 1…
"The Kranz Dictum"
Kranz called a meeting of his branch and flight control team on the Monday morning following the Apollo 1 disaster that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Kranz made the following address to the gathering (The Kranz Dictum), in which his expression of values and admonishments for future spaceflight are his legacy to NASA:
Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, w…
Kranz called a meeting of his branch and flight control team on the Monday morning following the Apollo 1 disaster that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Kranz made the following address to the gathering (The Kranz Dictum), in which his expression of values and admonishments for future spaceflight are his legacy to NASA:
Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, w…