Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. is a retired NASA engineer and manager. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1944, Kraft was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor organization to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 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 spaceflight, first orbital flight and first spacewalk. At the beginning of the Apollo program Kraft retired as a flight director in order 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 Gilruth. He held the position until his retirement from NASA in 1982. More than any other man, 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."
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1402: Forces under Timur defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara and captured Sultan Bayezid I. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur)
1866: Third Italian War of Independence: The Austrian Navy led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff defeated a much larger Italian fleet in the Battle of Lissa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_%281866%29)
1940: Billboard magazine published its first "Music Popularity Chart". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_%28magazine%29)
1944: Adolf Hitler survived an assassination attempt by German Resistance member Claus von Stauffenberg, who hid a bomb inside a briefcase during a conference at the Wolfsschanze military headquarters in East Prussia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20_Plot)
1969: The Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would become the first men to walk on the moon six and a half hours later. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11)
_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:
surfeit: An excessive amount of something. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surfeit)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things. -- Sir Edmund Hillary (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary)