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While flight-preparation crews were having problems, Grissom, White, and Chaffee were finding bottlenecks in training activities. The chief problem was keeping the Apollo mission simulator current with changes being made in spacecraft 012.
Command and Service Modules 012 at North American
Apollo 1 Arrives at the Cape
Grissom, Chaffee, & White check the communications headgear
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As Procedures Officer, Kranz was put in charge of integrating Mercury Control with the Launch Control Team at Cape Canaveral, Florida, writing the “Go/NoGo” procedures that allowed missions to continue as planned or be aborted, along with serving as a sort of switchboard operator using teletype between the control center at Cape Canaveral and the agency’s fourteen tracking stations and two tracking ships located across the globe.
Kranz & his F86 Saber Cat
Kranz at his console in 1965
Kranz and his teacher Chris Kraft
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At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, following the path of his mentor Robert Gilruth.
Kraft in Mission Control for Gemini 5
Ad. Abhau, Robert Thompson, and Kraft
Kraft with his new flight Directors
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Toward the end of January 1967, it was revealed that Lunar Module 1 would not reach the Cape in February, as expected. This meant, the moon landing might be delayed because the lander was not ready. But the mission planners could not wait for the Apollo engineers to iron out all the problems. They had to plan for a landing in 1969 and hope that the hardware would catch up with them.
Lunar Module Diagram
John Disher Explains Apollo Components
Lunar Module Test Article LTA-2R
