Apollo

Chris Kraft: The Father of NASA’s Mission Control

Bill Thompson

This weekend marks 55 years since human beings first set foot on the surface of the moon

The Apollo 11 mission put astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon Good 3rd crew member, Michael Collins, remained in the orbiting And module .

It was the fulfillment of an ambitious goal set at the beginning of the 1960s by President John F Kennedy .

During the 1960s tens of thousands of talented engineers and experts working at warp speed, if you will, help the U.S. reach that goal

At the heart of it all was a brilliant aerospace engineer named Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. It was largely Chris Kraft created, pioneered, or invented many of the things that we now regard as standard elements of the NASA space program

Get your copy of Chris Kraft’s book

From Mercury to Gemini to Apollo, Kraft was there, helping shape what the space program became .

In 2001 Chris Kraft wrote a memoir of his life and career, mirroring that of NASA.it was called flight comma and that’s….few minutes with this iconic figure.

So here now, from 2001 Chris Kraft.

Chris Kraft died in 2019, just days after the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing he had helped make possible.

Wally Schirra

Bill Thompson

The US space program was launched, so to speak, in 1959, when the first seven mercury astronauts were named.

These pioneers laid the groundwork for the Gemini, Apollo, and space shuttle missions that would follow in coming years and decades.

Among those seven was a 36-year-old test pilot named Wally Schirra.

Over the next few years he would become a household name, along with those like John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and Alan Shepard.

Finally, in 1988, Schirra wrote his autobiography. And that’s when I had a chance to meet him

So here now, from 1988, astronaut Wally Schirra/

Wally Schirra died in 2007. He was 84.

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Buzz Aldrin
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Buzz Aldrin

Bill Thompson

On July 20th, 1969, Buzz Aldrin was 39 years old, as he and Neil Armstrong became the first two human beings ever to set foor on the surface of the moon.

Fifty-one years sounds like a long time, but to those of us who remember watching it unfold live on TV, it’s almost like it was yesterday.

To untold millions of people all over the world, Buzz Aldrin, to this day, remains a larger-than-life hero. That’s why, when I met him in 2000, I was more than just a bit starstruck.

Aldrin had written his second novel, a fictional story of a disaster aboard a space shuttle. And, as you’ll hear, he was very focused on the future of space travel, not his past.

So here now, from 2000, Buzz Aldrin.

Buzz Aldrin is 90 now. He lives in Satellite Beach, Florida.