I'm 76. Our country was going thru a tumultuous period back at this time. But the Apollo space program was a shining star for many Americans back then and it helped me feel proud to be an American. We were leading the way in exploring the Universe. What could be more exciting than that. Thank you Gene Kranz for leading the way and being a part of the best and the brightest America had to offer.
I'm from Norway and I'd love to have experienced that time It was the time that the US lead the way and anything was possible It was a fantastic time to experience O how I envy your time in history Just saying 🇧🇻
As a 35 year old man in 2022, I’m just in awe of Mr. Kranz and that whole generation, my grandfather is a Korean veteran. I am a brain injury survivor who works on a farm and I’m teaching myself Astronomy, farm work I strive to be “Tough and competent.” I sure wish I could video chat with him soon, it would be such an honor.
When I was a kid we had a saying for something impossible: “You can no more do that than you can go to the moon”. Thanks to Gene Kranz and others we can’t say that anymore.
Gene Kranz and his contemporaries are the reason America was a great country. His final comments in this interview are especially poignant in that for humanity to advance we need to get out of "I" mode and into "WE" mode. Not just in America but worldwide. He is so inspirational and humble too. If I had carte blanche to meet ANYONE from any historical endeavour, it would absolutely be Gene Kranz!
I realize he's told this story a thousand times. He wrote a book. His memory and recall is amazing. A true American hero. I have the utmost respect for this man of faith and science. Thank you for your service, sir! I loved your book.
Gene Kranz is my absolute life-hero. What an amazing, incredible man. I've learnt so much in terms of leadership and man-management from reading his books and have passed that wisdom on to people who worked for me. There were incredible men who went into space and went to the moon; but there were many more incredible men who enabled them to get there. Gene Kranz is one of the them.
The questions were added in post as one of the questions said "as a Marine" and Gene didn't bat an eye. Kranz was Air Force, not USMC and he was always nice to point that out.
To be challenged with such a magnificent set of goals... I could only say with such a dire set of consequences if anyone failed at their assignment. Few situations people find themselves in generate such excitement and intensity. What an accomplishment!
An amazing story, with so many lessons to learn. What a great leader, manager, problem solver. Also a person who went and built an amazing system for other flight controllers to follow.
A true American Hero. It's a shame that the leadership at NASA has denigrated to the point where they aren't even the best space agency in this country, let alone the world. Gene was exactly right when he talked about the lack of promotion and planning around the International Space Station. We're still decades away from being able to get to Mars and it shouldn't be that way. Gene superbly articulates the reason why this is the case at the end. We're stagnant, and we are suffering from terrible government leadership!
I really appreciate all of Kranz's comments, but especially the final ones. We have definitely lost something special that his generation had, and Kranz really puts his finger on the abililties and attitudes that this nation has to get back in order for the US to do great things again.
The motivating factor they had, was the cold war, where America wanted to beat the soviets. Since the fall of the Soviet union, America, Russia and other space agencies have started to focus more on science, creating the ISS. Lots of research from the ISS, contributed greatly for us on earth, but also for future space missions. Mars is the goal, which is why the moon became interesting again. Artemis is meant to go there for science this time, not just walking around on it.
What a superb human being. My god, what a real man. You know, I was one of those young people who was abandoned when Nixon destroyed our space program. I had never put 2 and 2 together and realized that a ridiculous stunt, Apollo-Soyuz, came at the expense of saving Skylab.
Gene was in the Air Force not the Marines. He describes how this error started in his autobiography, his buzz-cut had a lot to do with it! I’m surprised he didn’t correct the interviewer.
I wonder if he had any satisfaction from watching Steve Bales make the call he did on apollo 11. Everytime steve tells that story he credits Gene. Before they started the landing Gene told all of them he would stand by any call they made and defend them if necessary. Gave steve the actual balls to continue. Think about that for a second. The whole entire country is watching. Do you really want to be that guy who says go and it go sideways? Wouldn't of happened had he aborted because he had a problem and was playing it aafe. Happened twice actually but he was more confident the second time. The first time he sounded scared to death. Rightfully so.
Love Gene Kranz, but his generation of controllers, directors and even most astronauts have a blind spot when it comes to the Shuttle. It was a beautiful machine, a great technological achievement, but it was also the tombstone of the American space program. Everything the shuttle did could have been done more easily, safely and inexpensively by disposable launch vehicles than was done by the shuttle. Skylab, which was a truly worthwhile project, was sacrificed to the shuttle, not Apollo-Soyuz. Manned space missions were shut down for nearly a decade. Getting astronauts to a space station could have been done with an updated Gemini capsule if all they had to do was get to and back from orbit. This isn't even considering the astronauts killed by the shuttle's inherently flawed design. The decision to go with the shuttle was the greatest disaster in the history of the US space program. It basically set us back 40 years.
Yes, the rumor is I Roby Pariyanickal Mathew won the Gene Kranz award within the last 5 years ... I would like to dedicate this award to Dr.Bob. also God bless my German heritage and Phoebe Bridgers, who I think I know. 🤔🤔🤔 God bless NASA. Yes I totally accept the Gene Kranz Scholarship for NASA U. Call me !!! I would love to fix the satellite !!!
The only thing he said that I will argue with is the Apollo 11 landing. The story of not being able to talk after he realized they were on the moon and couldn't get the Stay for T-1 is not true. Different videos of the actual mission shows he called for Stay for T-1 before Armstrong said Tranquillity Base
