Apollo 13 flight director lives to speak about his rescue from Harvey’s flooding

Astronaut Thomas Stafford, left, and Donald Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations, puff on big cigars and applaud as the Apollo 13 made a successful splashdown, April 17, 1970, Houston, Tex. Other members of the Mission Control teams surround the console. (AP Photo)

The flight director of the famous Apollo 13 mission was rescued from his home southeast of Houston as the floodwaters advanced across the city.

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Gene Kranz told local TV station KHOU he was prepared to ride out the storm in his two-story home in Dickinson, about 30 miles southeast of Houston. As the waters continued to rise, he knew his home and family could be in danger.

“My youngest daughter, Jean, showed up in a boat at the front door and said she wasn’t leaving until we did,” Kranz told reporters.

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Kranz visited the police station in Dickinson to thank the first responders who had performed so many rescues throughout the region.

“This was truly an experience of people helping people,” Kranz said. “There’s people that watch things happen, people who wonder what happened. But then there’s people that makes things happen and that, I think, is the story of Dickinson.”

Kranz was most well-known as the flight director for the Apollo 13 mission in April 1970. He helped astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert land safely on Earth after their capsule malfunctioned and prevented them from landing on the moon.

In the popular 1995 film “Apollo 13,” Kranz was played by actor Ed Harris.

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