
Remembering Chris Kraft - selimthegrim
https://www.nasa.gov/chris-kraft
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scj
During John Glenn's first orbital flight, an indicator went off, causing
concern over the heat shield.

Kraft and his team correctly determined the heat shield was fine. His
judgement was ignored and he was forced to use an untested and unnecessarily
risky procedure. Decades later, both Glenn and Kraft went on the record
denouncing what happened. As a result, Kraft would define NASA policy as "the
flight director may, after analysis of the flight, choose to take any
necessary action required for the successful completion of the mission."

I can't imagine how Apollo 13 would have unfolded if this policy was not in
place.

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sizzzzlerz
Kraft literally wrote the book on how space missions were to be run. He wrote
all the procedures that you see being executed in Houston's Mission Control,
devising the roles and responsibilities of each individual from "Flight" to
CapComm. If there is a giant in the American space program, it is Christopher
Kraft. RIP.

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AstroJetson
He is sort of the father for any type of complex procedure systems out there
today. In prior jobs, references back and setups that came from the space
program were pretty common.

Lots of us have worked in or around "mission control's" at companies (think
any of the Telcoms, power distribution etc), so thanks Chris for your
guidance!

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aqme28
I highly recommend his memoir, "Flight." It's a fantastic story about
engineering and the birth of the space age.

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jlampa
There's a documentary featuring interviews with him - and many of the people
who worked with him - on Netflix:
[https://www.netflix.com/watch/80175483](https://www.netflix.com/watch/80175483)

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sswaner
With Kraft's passing and the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, it is
valuable to reflect on the many ways the space programs of several countries
have substantially contributed to our work now. There is an elegance and
structure to the work of mission control that is such a useful guide for how
to deliver and operate technology.

It is sad to lose such talent and vision, but good to know that what he and
his team created is so readily available to us now.

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__sy__
Oh, this makes me sad. +1 on people recommending his book "Flight". I very
much enjoyed it too. I'd also recommend watching his lecture at MIT a decade
or so ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpq1YNVKQY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpq1YNVKQY)

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dang
Related:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20504164](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20504164)

