Wow, I’m surprised he lived that long, what with all the stress and the smoke-filled room where he worked for decades.
A true hero, nonetheless.
That’s an eerie coincidence. I’m in the middle of reading Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger and Kraft is a major character in the book.
A major asshole if I recall…
Reading his autobiography and Gene Kranz’s together is a fascinating exercise. Kranz had a Kraft and I did everything together air and Kraft’s was more yeah and there was this guy Gene Kranz. I’m exaggerating, but there is a distinct contrast.
There was this odd thing when I was a kid that his name sounded the same as the company that owned a local TV station: Chris-Craft. Yeah, the boat people.
It always took a second for my mind to get the neurons connected right when I heard his name. And this holdover from decades ago was still there when I read the title.
You’d think that after watching a bunch of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights I would have done it automatically.
Very nice article: Christopher Columbus Kraft, NASA’s legendary flight director, has died | Ars Technica
Brian