Gene Kranz & Chris Kraft NASA flight Directors signed autographed photo Mercury

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Gene Kranz & Chris Kraft NASA flight Directors signed autographed photo Mercury:
$99.00

8 x 10 glossy

Eugene Francis \"Gene\" Kranz (born August 17, 1933) is a retired NASA Flight Director and manager. Kranz served as a Flight Director, the successor to NASA founding Flight Director Chris Kraft, during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and is best known for his role in directing the successful Mission Control team efforts to save the crew of Apollo 13, which later became the subject story of a major motion picture of the same name. He is also noted for his trademark close-cut flattop hairstyle, and the wearing of dapper white \"mission\" vests (waistcoats), of different styles and materials made by his wife, Marta Kranz, during missions for which he acted as Flight Director. A personal friend of the American astronauts of his time, Kranz remains a prominent and colorful figure in the history of U.S. manned space exploration, the embodiment of \"NASA tough-and-competent\" of the Kranz Dictum. Kranz has been the subject of movies, documentary films, and books and periodical articles. Kranz is a recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom.[1] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Kranz was ranked as the #2 most popular space hero.[2]

Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. (born February 28, 1924) is a retired NASA engineer and manager who was instrumental in establishing the agency\'s Mission Control operation. Following his graduation from Virginia Tech in 1944, Kraft was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He worked for over a decade in aeronautical research before being asked in 1958 to join the Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America\'s first man in space. Assigned to the flight operations division, Kraft became NASA\'s first flight director. He was on duty during such historic missions as America\'s first human spaceflight, first human orbital flight, and first spacewalk.

At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center), following in the footsteps of his mentor Robert R. Gilruth. He held the position until his 1982 retirement from NASA. During his retirement, Kraft has consulted for numerous companies including IBM and Rockwell International, and he published an autobiography entitled Flight: My Life in Mission Control.

More than any other person, Kraft was responsible for shaping the organization and culture of NASA\'s Mission Control. As his protégé Glynn Lunney commented, \"the Control Center today... is a reflection of Chris Kraft.\"[1] When Kraft received the National Space Trophy from the Rotary Club in 1999, the organization described him as \"a driving force in the U.S. human space flight program from its beginnings to the Space Shuttle era, a man whose accomplishments have become are offerding on an authentic hand signed item(s) by the person(s) named in the sale title. We do notsell pre-prints, reprints or copied autographsof any sort.

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All items ship in a rigid top loader or 8 1/2 x 11 magazine bag with backing board. This may cause reflections on the photo in the item listing. All items will ship in rigid cardboard

photo mailers. Your shipping is $4 total. Win more than one item and it ships for free. I accept paypal only and ship to the lower 48 states only. Dealer inquiries are welcome.

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