Failure Is Not an Option
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
- Gene Kranz‟s leadership in movie < Apollo 13>
INTRODUCTION Apollo 13, the 1995 motion picture directed by Ron Howard, is the true story of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, a team of astronauts reassigned to a space flight with diminished preparation time. Apollo 13 Mission in 1970 was planning to land on the moon as a routine, but after astronauts found oxygen tank‟s explosion and leaking, this routine mission to the moon suddenly became a survival mission to safely return to Earth. The rescue mission was ultimately successful, and there were many reasons that led to its success. One of the reasons was that Gene Kranz, the flight director, insisted on having real time factual information on which he and his team could make life and death decisions. The movie has forever contributed two phrases to our everyday cultural vocabulary, “Houston we have a problem”, communicated by Jim Lovell, and “Failure is not an option”, voiced by Gene Kranz. Many of Gene‟s quotes in the movie indicated the leadership skills of him, such as intelligence, technical proficiency, ability to quickly adapt, and decision making etc. This essay is trying to analyze the leadership skills that Gene has applied in the movie < Apollo 13 >.
1
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
LEADERSHIP SKILLS ANALYSIS According to the report of Time magazine: “ The response from Mission Control this way: Kranz, a crew-cut and clip-voiced former test pilot, was just winding up his tenhour stint with his „white team‟ of flight controllers when the first hint of trouble came from 205,000 miles away in space. Quickly responding, he made the first of the long night‟s many important decisions, ordering the astronauts to turn off a fuel cell, check their thruster rockets, and power down the guidance and navigation systems. Though he may well have anticipated the worst, Kranz never faltered or showed signs of panic. ” （“The Masters of Mission Control.”
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
- Gene Kranz‟s leadership in movie < Apollo 13>
INTRODUCTION Apollo 13, the 1995 motion picture directed by Ron Howard, is the true story of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, a team of astronauts reassigned to a space flight with diminished preparation time. Apollo 13 Mission in 1970 was planning to land on the moon as a routine, but after astronauts found oxygen tank‟s explosion and leaking, this routine mission to the moon suddenly became a survival mission to safely return to Earth. The rescue mission was ultimately successful, and there were many reasons that led to its success. One of the reasons was that Gene Kranz, the flight director, insisted on having real time factual information on which he and his team could make life and death decisions. The movie has forever contributed two phrases to our everyday cultural vocabulary, “Houston we have a problem”, communicated by Jim Lovell, and “Failure is not an option”, voiced by Gene Kranz. Many of Gene‟s quotes in the movie indicated the leadership skills of him, such as intelligence, technical proficiency, ability to quickly adapt, and decision making etc. This essay is trying to analyze the leadership skills that Gene has applied in the movie < Apollo 13 >.
1
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
LEADERSHIP SKILLS ANALYSIS According to the report of Time magazine: “ The response from Mission Control this way: Kranz, a crew-cut and clip-voiced former test pilot, was just winding up his tenhour stint with his „white team‟ of flight controllers when the first hint of trouble came from 205,000 miles away in space. Quickly responding, he made the first of the long night‟s many important decisions, ordering the astronauts to turn off a fuel cell, check their thruster rockets, and power down the guidance and navigation systems. Though he may well have anticipated the worst, Kranz never faltered or showed signs of panic. ” （“The Masters of Mission Control.”