Mr. Kranz was born on August 17, 1933, in Toledo, Ohio, and received his B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Parks College of Saint Louis University in 1954. He was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force in 1954, and flew high performance jet fighter aircraft including the F-80, F-86, and the F-100. In 1958, he worked as a Flight Test Engineer at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, for McDonnell Aircraft developing the Quail Decoy Missile for the B-47 and B-52 aircraft. He was discharged from the Air Force Reserve as a Captain in 1972. Mr. Kranz is married to the former Marta I. Cadena of Eagle Pass, Texas. The family has six children. In 1960, Mr. Kranz joined the NASA Space Task Group at Langley, Virginia and was assigned as Assistant Flight Director for Project Mercury. He assumed Flight Director duties for all Project Gemini Missions, and was the Branch Chief for Flight Control Operations. Mr. Kranz was selected as Division Chief for Flight Control in 1968, and continued his duties as Flight Director for the Apollo Program. He was the Flight Director for the Apollo 11 lunar landing, and led the "Tiger Team" for the successful return of the Apollo 13 crew. He performed as both a Flight Director and Flight Operations Director for the Skylab program, and, at its conclusion, was assigned as Deputy Director of Flight Operations with responsibility for space flight planning, training and mission operations, aircraft operations, and flight crew operations. In 1983 Mr. Kranz was assigned as Director of Mission Operations with responsibilities for all aspects of mission design, testing, planning, training and spaceflight operations. Additionally he was responsible for the design, development, maintenance, and operations of all related mission facilities, as well as the preparation of the Shuttle flight software. In this capacity he was responsible for over 6000 employees with an annual budget of approximately $700 million. Mr. Kranz retired from NASA in March 1994 after 37 years of federal service. Current activities include consulting, motivational speaking to youth groups, and lecturing on manned spaceflight. He is a Flight Engineer on a B-17 "Flying Fortress", and performs at Airshows throughout the United States. Since retirement he has completed building an aerobatic plane, with estimated first flight in the summer of 1997. Mr. Kranz was the corecipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Nixon for the Apollo 13 Mission, and was designated a Distinguished member of the Senior Executive Service by President Reagan. Mr. Kranz is the author of Failure is not an Option .

Gene Kranz in Mission Control, Houston.

Guenter F. Wendt

Guenter F. Wendt was born and educated in Germany. He came to the United States in 1949 and became an American citizen in 1955. He was responsible for spacecraft launch preparations for all Mercury and Gemini flights. In 1967, after the Apollo fire, he accepted a position with the Rockwell International Corporation at the Kennedy Space Center and was responsible for spacecraft launch preparations for all manned Apollo, Skylab and ASTP flights. He was the last man seen by the flight crews prior to liftoff. He looked out for the flight crew safety during the Shuttle ALT program and the orbital flights of the Space Shuttle. Prior to his retirement in 1989, he helped in the development and installation of the Flight Crew Escape System. He is a confidant and personal friend of most astronauts and the recipient of NASA's "Letter of Appreciation" award, several Group Achievement Awards and the "Silver Snoopy." Guenter Wendt was "pad leader" during thel Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Visit Guenter's official web site to learn more and also purchase his book "The Unbroken Chain".