Gene Kranz Quotes

• I don't care what anything was designed to do, I care about what it can do.

  Gene Kranz

  Apollo, Care, Can Do

  "Fictional character: Gene Kranz". "Apollo 13", www.imdb.com. 1995.

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• From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: "Tough" and "Competent." Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills.

  Gene Kranz

  Mean, Responsibility, Skills

  "Failure Is Not An Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond". Book by Gene Kranz, 2000.

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• To recognize that the greatest error is not to have tried and failed, but that in trying, we did not give it our best effort

  Gene Kranz

  Attitude, Errors, Best Effort

  Gene Kranz (2009). “Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond”, p.393, Simon and Schuster

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• Failiure is not an option.

  Gene Kranz

  Motivational, Success, Failure

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• There is no such thing as good enough. You, your team, and your equipment must be the best. That is how you will win victories.

  Gene Kranz

  Team, Winning, Victory

  Gene Kranz (2009). “Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond”, p.106, Simon and Schuster

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• You can not operate in this room unless you believe that you are Superman, and whatever happens, you're capable of solving the problem.

  Gene Kranz

  Believe, Rooms, Problem

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• We had risen to probably one of the greatest challenges in history, put a man on the moon in the decade. We'd created incredible technologies. But what was most important, we'd created the teams, what I call the human factor. People who were energized by a mission.

  Gene Kranz

  Team, Moon, Technology

  "Space Lifeguard: An Interview with Gene Kranz". Interview with Andrew Chaikin, web.archive.org. April 11, 2000.

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• We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.

  Gene Kranz

  Space, Watches, Hell

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• There is no achievement without risk.

  Gene Kranz

  Achievement, Risk

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• Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write "Tough and Competent" on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.

  Gene Kranz

  Writing, White, Safety

  "The Kranz Dictum". Gene Kranz's address to his branch and flight control team on the Monday morning following the Apollo 1 disaster, January 30, 1967.

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• Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily.

  Gene Kranz

  Should Have, Safety, Design

  Gene Kranz (2009). “Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond”, p.204, Simon and Schuster

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• Failure is not an option!

  Gene Kranz

  Failure, Space, Failure Is Not An Option

  "Gene Kranz, former flight director for NASA". CNN Chat Room, www.cnn.com. April 11, 2000.

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• I think everyone, once in his life, should be given a ticker-tape parade.

  Gene Kranz

  Thinking, Tape, Parades

  Gene Kranz (2009). “Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond”, p.338, Simon and Schuster

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