Kranz’s handwritten journal of his daily activities from October 5, 1967, to April 8, 1968, all contained on 63 pages in an 8.5 x 11 spiral bound notebook. Kranz provides a daily timeline of his activities, which include many meetings, design ideas, and computations. Kranz starts most of his days, between seven and eight in the morning, which last up to 12 hours, some concluding with Judo. Two Apollo missions took place during this time: the unmanned Apollo 4 and 5 launches from Kennedy Space Center. A selection of entries follows (with grammar and spelling retained):
October 16, 1967: “CCK—3. MSC will be attacked for MSC Mgmt. 4. Importance of success to NASA on next msn’s. 5. No new programs in next few yrs…10. McPherson—’what is wrong with the moon.’”
October 17, 1967: “1030 CCK called—Pete Conrad wants to discuss manned LM mission rules as they pertain to Lunar Powered Descent—i.e. look at impact on LGC software, crew displays & procedures…1600 Called Conrad—setup meeting @ 0900 Tuesday to go over software sequence and eliminate any possible non guidance functions. 1630 Roach—(a) Armstrong conversion to engineer will wait till GS-12 + 1 year. (b) Erwin sick leave ok.”
October 24, 1967: “1045—Talking with Strickland, Roach Armstrong…the Redstone requirement for LM-1…Conrad–sez major redesignation will probably occur after manual takeover, since due to lighting will probably not see boulder, holes, etc—will probably use auto redesignation till about 500´ at which time will exit P-74 & take over manually.”
October 25, 1967: “1100 Went over LM 2/3 AGS memo from Hannigan…1200 Working on LM-1 timelines…Bray $150 for Mylar on LM-1…Not too good a day.”
November 1, 1967: “Make sure we that we get memo written on LM-1 Ops review…1315: Talked with Armstrong on the countdown support & mtg to update count.”
November 2, 1967: “7:45 Al Bean will discuss LM-1 support in the office. Asked Ealick to send him a copy of the LM mission documentation.”
“Nov. 9, 1967—501 Launch day…0500—Picture Perfect Count. / 0600—Launch / 0700 LM-1 is now #1 priority.”
April 4, 1968: “3 new Flt directors, Windler, Frank, Griffin / Monumental announcement!!!!! / Very casually presented…FCD / MPAS / Action, requirements for unmanned docking s/c & ground…Apollo 6 502—using Bpair S band Ant.…He leak possible…Mike Collins–Data Mgmt. Grp.…Vanguard—recovery vessel for 101 / More of Hammacks problems, ‘bearing out on Okinowa, & detailed Ops plan for retreiver…FCD—Lunar Ldr.”
April 8, 1968: “Acquaint with PLSS operations…CCK—Bp-30/Anybodys guess / 101—/not too smashing / LM-3/behind schedule / Separation film cassets on 502, may/did show separation skirt problem…CCK thinks we should have retargeted—needed someone more efficient, shud have picked a target close to carrier & take chance L/D was right. Shud have listened to Llewellyn.”
In fine overall condition. A fantastic look inside the day-to-day decisions and planning that went into revamping the Apollo program as NASA worked to fulfill John F. Kennedy’s desire to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade. This notebook is a magnificent example of the building of the nucleus staff that would become valued members of Kranz’s mission control team. Pre-certified Steve Zarelli and RR Auction COA.
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