Kranz nears $5M goal to save Mission Control
Ex-flight director wants glory back in ’69 re-creation
Gene Kranz, arguably the most famous flight director in NASA’s history, is of the generation that played sandlot sports, got their sense of adventure from reading pulp fiction and made model airplanes out of balsa wood and toilet paper rolls.
This generation — that looked to space as America’s next great adventure — is also of the “Apollo generation,” who helped the U.S. become the first country to land on the moon in July 1969, Kranz, 85, said Tuesday.
But as their time here on Earth comes to an end, Kranz’s effort to restore Historic Mission Control to its glory days and inspire the next generation of space geeks is well on its way, with more than 80 percent of its $5 million goal raised.
“This is a very special place, and I’m passionate about the importance of restoring and preserving it,” Kranz said Tuesday at a luncheon held to both honor him and raise money for the restoration project.
$4.2 million raised
Prior to the luncheon Tuesday, $4.2 million had been raised. Officials with Space Center Houston — the museum side of Johnson Space Center in Houston and one of the entities raising money for the project — did not have an updated number that took into account Tuesday’s fundraiser.
Johnson is home of the nation’s astronaut corps, where mission control is located.
Kranz, a former mission control flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, is best known for leading the enormous team on the ground that helped bring the Apollo 13 astronauts home after an oxygen tank explosion forced them to abort their trip to the moon in 1970.
Flight directors are in charge of keeping astronauts safe by leading teams of controllers, researchers, engineers and support personnel at the center.
Holly Ridings, the first woman to be named chief flight director at NASA’s mission control, said in a video created for Tuesday’s event that Kranz laid the groundwork and set the definitions for how her team of flight controllers operate half a century later.
“We are the guardians of human spaceflight, and we trace our lineage back to Mr. Kranz,” she said.
The historic mission control room — famously used for the Gemini, Apollo and a handful of space shuttle missions — was decommissioned in the 1990s after the Space Shuttle Discovery spent seven days in space in 1992. The room had fallen into a state of disrepair, and in 2015 the National Park Service designated the National Historic Landmark as “threatened.”
Museum officials hope to restore mission control to its 1969 glory in time for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing next summer. That timing still is on track, scheduled for opening early July.
The public will be able to see the room just as it was on July 24, 1969, down to some of the smallest details. Carpeting, tile, paperwork, coffee cups, ashtrays, and even the wallpaper are in the process of being recreated to make Mission Control look just as if the entire team all went on a restroom break at one time and left the room unattended. Even the Apollo 11 mission clocks will be reactivated.
‘Very proud moment’
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also attended Tuesday’s event, saying it was a “very proud moment” for the city.
“As a kid, I always wanted to go up into space, but I just never made it,” Turner said. “Today, a whole lot of kids dream of going into space and this one city and one region is where, if you dream it, you can make it happen.”
Turner presented Kranz with a proclamation naming Oct. 23, 2018, “Gene Kranz Day” in Houston.
“As we raise funds for restoration, we most of all want to pay tribute to a great American leader,” said Gwen Griffin, a member of the board of directors for the Manned Space Flight Education Foundation, which owns and operates Space Center Houston.
“It is with great pride that we all come together to honor Mr. Kranz,” she added.