Gene Kranz

Eugene F. "Gene" Kranz (17 August, 1933–) is a retired NASA flight director and manager. Kranz, who served as a flight director during Project Gemini and Project Apollo, is best known for his trademark buzz-cut hairstyle and the wearing of white vests of different styles and materials whenever his "White Team" was on duty during missions, but was best known for his role in saving the crew of Apollo 13.

Teams, The Human Factor and The Right Stuff

Kranz was the leader of the "white team", a shift at mission control that contributed to saving the Apollo 13 astronauts.

Related Topics:
White team - Apollo 13

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To Kranz, however, this was yet another fantastic example of the "human factor" - as he calls it - that had been born out of the 1960s' space race.

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According to Kranz, this factor is what is largely responsible for helping put America on the moon in only a decade.

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Powered by young minds and hard workers, those who worked day in and day out, they had the perfect blend of intelligence and sheer willpower - more simply, "the right stuff."

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Gene Kranz had this to say about the "human factor" - "(they were) people who were energized by a mission. And these teams were capable of moving right on and doing anything America asked them to do in space."

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According to him, a few organized examples of this factor included Grumman, who developed the Apollo Lunar Module, North American Aviation, and the Lockheed Corporation. After the excitement of the 1960s, these companies dissolved into corporate mergings, such as happened when Lockheed became Lockheed Martin. Another example of the "human factor" was the ingenuity and hard work by teams during Apollo 13 that developed the emergency plans and sequences as a new problems arose during the mission.

Related Topics:
Grumman - Apollo Lunar Module - North American Aviation - Lockheed Corporation - Lockheed Martin - Apollo 13

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