Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON — Just two days after the celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the man who started it all has died.

Christopher Kraft passed away on Monday. Kraft started NASA as we know it and was Mission Control’s first flight director leading the space agency through the Apollo moon missions and beyond.

“Chris Kraft is a legend,” Jim Remar, President of the Cosmosphere said. “Without his efforts on the ground, two astronauts who touched down on Tranquility Base 50-years-ago probably don’t get there, at least don’t get there to fulfill (President) Kennedy’s challenge.”

Mission Control was assembled by a group of men who were just out of college and was willing to give it their all for the space program, which included inventing procedures and solutions moment to moment.

“Most of the flight controllers and directors were in their early 20’s so they were really writing the rules and procedures as they went,” Remar said. “As a whole, the team needed a figurehead like Chris Kraft to guide them through.”

Remar said he hopes that more people who grew up after the Apollo program will use Kraft’s legacy in the space program to inspire them.

Christopher Columbus Kraft was 95 years old and will be remembered for his leadership under immense pressure during the space race to the moon, and for great vision to establish the inner workings of Mission Control.