HOUSTON — NASA has honored its first flight director by naming Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston after him.
Space-program officials spoke yesterday at a ceremony at the newly-named Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center.
The 87-year-old Kraft attended the event. He was NASA’s first director for “human spaceflight” and worked to create Mission Control. He also directed the Mercury and Gemini flights and helped put men on the moon during the Apollo program. He went on to serve as director of the Johnson Space Center from 1972 to 1982.
Kraft detailed his time at NASA in his 2001 book, “Flight: My Life in Mission Control.”