Flight : my life in mission control

Format:

Book

Title:

Flight : my life in mission control

Author:

Kraft, Christopher C.

ISBN:

9780525945710

9780452283046

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

x, 371 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

General Note:

Includes index.

Contents:

Sect. I. A Boy from Phoebus. 1. Raised in a Town That No Longer Exists. 2. The Boy Becomes a Man. 3. Flight Tests and a Stubborn Marine -- Sect. II. The Mercury Missions. 4. Reds and Red Tape. 5. Inventing Mission Control. 6. Rockets. 7. "We're Go, Flight" 8. Launch Day. 9. Around the World in Ninety Minutes. 10. The Man Malfunctioned. 11. The End of Mercury -- Sect. III. The Gemini Missions. 12. How Do You Get a Man to the Moon? 13. Space Walk. 14. How We Left the Russians Behind. 15. Out of Control. 16. Blinded in Space -- Sect. IV. The Apollo Missions. 17. "We're on Fire!" 18. Suddenly the Moon Comes Up. 19. The Last Few Steps. 20. ... And a Giant Leap. 21. Inevitably, Apollo Changes. 22. Near Failure and Great Successes. 23. Good-bye to the Moon.

Summary:

This book is the account of Chris Kraft, the first NASA flight director, and the U.S. space program from its infancy to its greatest triumphs.

Personal Subject:

Kraft, Christopher C.

Kraft, Christopher C. (OCoLC)fst00052847

Corporate Subject:

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- History.

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (OCoLC)fst00528469

Subject(s):

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- History.

Aerospace engineers -- United States -- Biography.

Astronautics -- United States -- History.

Geographic Term:

Genre:

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	921 Kraft, Chris 2001	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Flight is the stirring account of the U.S. space program from its infancy to its greatest triumphs - from the one man who was there for it all, Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr., the first NASA Flight Director.Born in a small town that no longer exists, Chris Kraft didn't let anything hold him back. After excelling in school and earning a coveted position at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Chris Kraft graduated and went on to play an integral part in what would become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Using his knowledge of aeronautics and engineering, Kraft oversaw the design of the space modules, rocket launches, and as it became clear that a command center and chain of command were needed, he created Mission Control. Chris Kraft was there to witness all the behind-the-scenes intrigue, near-disasters, calculated gambles, and flat-out luck that came with each unprecedented foray into space from the early 1960's to well after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969.The great heroes of the space program: Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman, are shown in all their glory and in their darkest hours. Relive the moments that captured the imagination of the world in a book that examines the greatest achievements to date in the history of American space flight.After graduation from VPI with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering, Chris Kraft went on to become the director of the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from 1972 to 1982. Since his retirement from federal service, Chris Kraft has served as an aerospace consultant to Rockwell International, IBM, a number of other companies, and servied on the Board of Directors of several large companies in Houston. The father of two grown children, he lives with his wife in Houston.

Author Notes

After graduating from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering, Chris Kraft went on to become the director of the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas from 1972 to 1982. Since his retirement from federal service, Chris Kraft has served as an aerospace consultant to Rockwell International, IBM, & a number of other companies. The father of two grown children, he lives with his wife in Houston.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Hollywood has captivated American audiences with dramatizations of the early space program and the race for the moon in movies like The Right Stuff and Apollo 13. But what really happened, before filmmakers made revisions for dramatic effect behind the scenes, as well as on the launchpads and in the cramped spaceships far from Earth? KraftÄflight director (thus his moniker "Flight") for the first Mercury flights in the early 1960s through most of the Gemini missions, chief of flight operations for the moon launches and, later, head of the Johnson Space Center in HoustonÄdetails the inception and first heady decade of NASA. In these memoirs he reveals little-known details of the space program: the young marine pilot John Glenn's cocky, stubborn side; the disorganization that contributed to the horrible launchpad fire in 1967 that killed three astronauts and NASA's subsequent soul-searching; Kraft and his staff's fight against cautious bureaucrats over the first lunar circumnavigation, one of the space program's high points; Buzz Aldrin's campaign to be the first man on the moon and why Neil Armstrong was chosen instead; and the media's construction of the U.S.-Russian space race. Kraft pulls no punches in his accounts of NASA infighting, and he gives credit where it's due, even to longtime sparring partners like NASA head George Mueller and master rocket-builder Wernher von Braun. Kraft's fair and ever-enthusiastic narrative will have broad appeal, from those who remember the first space flight to younger folks who can't imagine a world without NASA. 8 pages of photos not seen by PW. (Mar. 5) Forecast: Given Kraft's candid revelations and the unflagging popularity of space exploration, this book could attract a large readership. (All proceeds from the book's sale will go to the Johnson Space Center Scholarship Fund.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

A gung-ho memoir of the American manned space-flight program, told by the crusty, avuncular flight director of the Mercury and Gemini missions (later director of the Houston Spaceflight Center). Kraft graduated from Virginia Polytechnic and then spent 12 years testing military aircraft for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at Langley Field in Virginia, in the process earning himself both an ulcer and valuable experience as troubleshooter of tedious design problems (and even more tedious bureaucratic conflicts among the various contractors and military agencies). After the launching of the Russian Sputnik satellite in 1958, NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with Kraft along for the ride as an architect of the manned space program and flight directorthe buck-stops-here guyfor most of the important early space flights. He disses some of the folk who didnt see things his way: he almost decks Werner von Braun, for example, and he chafes at John Glenns gyrene stubbornness. But hes most useful as an informative corrective to broad-brush treatments that have mythologized the space program. Tom Wolfe, according to Kraft, got some of the right stuff wrongastronauts did not have to use their celebrity to wrest control of their spacecraft from Mission Control; from the start, Mercury capsule designers wanted to make the spacecraft as flyable as possible. Kraft also points out significant flaws and inconsistencies in the filmed treatment of the nail-biting calamities of Apollo 13. Snappy, highly detailed account of the engineering challenges, backroom bickering, and edge-of-your-seat drama surrounding 20th-century Americas most dramatic technological achievement. (8 pp. photos, not seen)

Booklist Review

Besides the astronauts, Kraft was one of NASA's best-known personalities in the agency's heroic decade of the 1960s, once making the cover of Time. The blunt-speaking demeanor that made Kraft popular with the press is fully present in his memoir, in which he lets fly about various instances of his dissatisfaction with the performance of an astronaut, engineer, or contractor. Such dirty-laundry airing, verboten at the time by the publicity-conscious NASA, is one reason for space-history buffs to flock to Kraft's narrative, but the principal attraction is how he ramped up from scratch the flight control operation for Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. When Sputnik beeped the U.S. into a panic, Kraft was an engineer at the obscure National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), quickly revamped as NASA. Tapped by the unsung organizer of manned flight, Robert Gilruth, to establish what became Mission Control, Kraft directed the early flights, whose participants he critiques by his lights as a no-nonsense engineer. His key role and frankness of recollection make Kraft a worthy memoirist of pioneering space flight. Gilbert Taylor

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Preface	p. 1
Section I A Boy from Phoebus
1. Raised in a Town That No Longer Exists	p. 9
2. The Boy Becomes a Man	p. 26
3. Flight Tests and a Stubborn Marine	p. 50
Section II The Mercury Missions
4. Reds and Red Tape	p. 61
5. Inventing Mission Control	p. 78
6. Rockets	p. 96
7. "We're Go, Flight"	p. 113
8. Launch Day	p. 132
9. Around the World in Ninety Minutes	p. 149
10. The Man Malfunctioned	p. 162
11. The End of Mercury	p. 171
Section III The Gemini Missions
12. How Do You Get a Man to the Moon?	p. 187
13. Space Walk	p. 208
14. How We Left the Russians Behind	p. 225
15. Out of Control	p. 248
16. Blinded in Space	p. 257
Section IV The Apollo Missions
17. "We're on Fire!"	p. 269
18. Suddenly the Moon Comes Up	p. 283
19. The Last Few Steps	p. 302
20. ...And a Giant Leap	p. 311
21. Inevitably, Apollo Changes	p. 326
22. Near Failure and Great Successes	p. 333
23. Good-bye to the Moon	p. 340
Epilogue	p. 349
Index	p. 356

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Table of Contents