Race To Save Apollo 13 Essay

Michael Useem’s “Race to Save Apollo 13” centers around the role of flight director Eugene Kranz in the return of the damaged spacecraft containing three American astronauts. It tells of how problems arose in the mission after the explosion of an oxygen tank which took out two fuel cells on the spacecraft Odyssey. Kranz’s responsibility during the mission was to come up with solutions to all the problems and to return the astronauts home safely. “Race To Save Apollo 13” shows how he managed to solve all the issues that came up during the mission under the immense pressures. In his telling of Kranz’s actions during the course of the mission, Useem shows Kranz to demonstrate the leadership principles of organization, communication, and the ability

to make fast, accurate decisions.
Kranz is shown to be organizational in his formation of teams during the course of the mission.

This originated with his organization of, “Four rotating flight teams -- dubbed White, Black, Gold, and Maroon… scheduled to spell one another during the mission’s long days ahead”(Useem 122). He created this to maintain a fully manned and functional crew at all times during the mission. This was then shown when he removed the white team from this cycle and used them to brainstorm protocols for the mission. He placed people where he thought they would be most helpful to him throughout the mission. He eventually even changed out a member of the new team for someone who he thought would aid on that team more. He knew how to put his most talented people on the team to the most use. He kept everything organized and under

control.
Kranz is shown to have the leadership skill of communication throughout the course of the mission. Kranz is able to effectively get ideas across to his team. They follow his lead because his command is final, so it is up to him to be the judge of what is the best way to handle the situation and command his team in a way to execute the goal. Kranz used communication with his team through the Tiger Team whom he “pressed to figure out solution” by putting them in a room to brainstorm together and giving them a way to communicate their ideas to him. He listened to his team and in this way enable communication among them as, “it permitted the team to assemble all past and current data in one place”(Useem 126). His overall stance and facilitation of communications was successful.
Kranz is shown to have leadership skills by his ability to make fast, accurate decisions.

When Kranz was faced with the issue of whether or not to go through with the power-down and passive thermal control roll with the risks of having a tired crew that could potentially have an accident and put strain on the available energy left on the spacecraft or let the crew take a sleeping period and lose extra power during the time that is essential to be conserved at the time rather than risk an accident. Kranz was able to listen to multiple opinions on the choice, then create his own, “Gentlemen… I thank you for your input….The next job for this crew will be to execute a thermal roll. After that, they will power down their spacecraft. And finally, they will get some sleep. A tired crew can get over their fatigue, but if we damage this ship any further, we’re not going to get over that”(Useem 129). He trusted his decision rather than second guessing and possibly wasting precious time. He made the best decision he saw possible at the moment. He was able to make a dire, time-sensitive decision and execute it with efficiency for the future benefit of bringing the astronauts home even if he had to compromise their full comprehension by delaying their sleep

period.
Eugene Kranz demonstrated leadership qualities in his portail by Michael Useem in “Race to Save Apollo 13.” He demonstrated organization through his distribution of people into teams. He demonstrated communication through his reliance on his team’s opinions and ideas, but also his ability to take control and make his plans well known. Finally, he demonstrated the ability to make fast, accurate decisions through the risks he took in an attempt to accomplish all his goals under stress, and his ability to see the path of most benefit in the long run. Kranz was an effective leader whose skill was shown through his successful return of the astronauts of Apollo 13.