Talk:Eugene F. Kranz

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In case anybody is confused, I was a little too hasty in moving to "Gene Kranz" (by far the name he's best known by, check Google), and made weird circular redirs. I'll now back off and let the editing settle down a bit first. Stan 17:16, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I was confused, yeah.  :) I think it's fixed now. All the "what links here" links to Eugene, which probably caused the confusion. I'm glad this article is being written though and hope the author continues. - Hephaestos 17:18, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I was the original author of this article, but didn't have an account and didn't do much editing afterwards. I should really fill more of this in from Kranz' book. But that would explain why (at the time) I had problems editing the article. ;) -Joseph 01:39, 2004 Jun 26 (UTC)

I've been doing some updates, expect more to come. Thanks! Gump 02:14, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

The first 2 sections have slightly strange names. Could anyone come up with better titles? Dr Gangrene 16:29, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

On the vest issue. I recall that, in his book, Gene says that his wife made him a vest for each launch. I did not get the impression thyat they were always white, or even always light colors. He only wore white for Apollo 13 because his shift was the "white team." I don't have his book handy... perhaps another wikipedian could check this and correct the article if necessary. Xlation 11:11, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

I just left the German wing of WP. So my English must be refreshed ab bit, not written longer texts for years, but I wil do my very best to improve the acticle. On the German wing of WP I upgrated the Apollo 1 article. But please give me some days time to read all I can find about him in my books. --Grabert 21:43, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

I have attempted a first pass at cleanup. I moved biographical stuff up and rephrased the beginning. All of my changes are above "Kranz speaks about his portrayal" under "Kranz in the Movies"... the stuff below that is still out of Wikipedia format/style and still needs cleanup. Georgewilliamherbert 06:05, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Feelings About Life After The Moon / Quote

Hello!

I think that's just the first part of Kranz's quotation: "No. In many ways we have the young people, we have the talent, we have the imagination, we have the technology."

Then there is something missing and after a new introduction about when he gave that statement the end of the actual quote is added: "I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation -- and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet."

However, the whole quote ist taken from an Interview on www.space.com (read):

[...] CHAIKIN: Do you feel that NASA has changed since the Apollo days? Do you feel it's the same place that you remember?

KRANZ: No. In many ways we have the young people, we have the talent, we have the imagination, we have the technology. But I don't believe we have the leadership and the willingness to accept risk, to achieve great goals. I believe we need a long-term national commitment to explore the universe. And I believe this is an essential investment in the future of our nation -- and our beautiful, but environmentally challenged planet. [...]

I changed the section using the quotation as a whole because in my opinion, by omitting the metioned sentence, the meaning of the statement is not the same.

--62.203.94.67 16:43, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, the quote's meaning is definately changed by the exclusion of the second part. --Matthew 17:37, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NASA Career

The penultimate paragraph mentions his famous quip in one sentence but the next sentence contradicts this by stating he did not utter it. Which is it? Or did Gene write the quip down and not say it? Also the movie sentence is really confusing, are some words missing?

His "White Team," dubbed the "Tiger Team" by the press, set the constraints for the consumption of spacecraft consumables (oxygen, electricity and water), controlled the three course-correction burns during the trans-Earth trajectory, as well as the power-up procedures that allowed the astronauts to use the Command Module for the trip home (among the marching orders given to his personnel at the time was his famous quip "Failure is not an option."). In the Ron Howard movie, his speech was "simplified into 'Failure is not an option,' " chuckles Kranz, who never actually uttered the now famous phrase during the Apollo 13 mission.

Secondly, the last paragraph in the section Feelings about life after the Moon appears irrelevant to Gene Kranz. Did Gene Kranz pose a question? Was the Vision for Space Exploration sent in some form to Gene as an answer? It looks like OR or misplaced commentary. -Wikianon 11:28, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

It is indeed a very contradictory paragraph. Gene Kranz never did say "failure is not an option". The writers of the movie took it from a paraphrased statement by Jerry Bostick, another flight controller who was a consultant on the movie. However, Kranz liked the quote so much that he used it as the title of his autobiography. I'll try to take a little time to get that paragraph into shape sometime soon.

As for the last paragraph, I agree that it's misplaced commentary. In my opinion it can just be removed without any loss to the article. MLilburne 14:00, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

I also agree that the article would be better off without that last paragraph. I've gone ahead and removed it. --Matthew 19:34, 19 September 2006 (UTC)