Message from Ed Fendell and Gene Kranz

 

The following speech was written by White Flight “Gene Kranz” for a completely different purpose than your reunion.  I Ed Fendell who visited Canberra enroute to CRO to support AS-501 to brief the personnel at Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla on the different aspects of the Apollo program, and worked with the personnel from those two tracking stations during the Apollo program have slightly modified that speech.  I feel that you all are members of the team that made Manned Spaceflight what it is today, and you should be fully proud of all your accomplishments in your careers, and your roles on putting Man on the Moon.

 

WE AT THIS REUNION TODAY ARE A UNIQUE BROTHERHOOD

 

WE SHOULD CONSIDER OURSELVES LUCKY TO HAVE LIVED WHEN WE DID

 

FOR MOST OF OUR PROFESSIONAL CAREER, WE LIVED A DREAM

 

WE KNEW WHERE WE WERE GOING, AND WE LOVED EVERY MOMEMT WE SPENT GETTING THERE

 

IN OUR EARLY CAREER WE WERE CHALLENGED BY A BRASH, YOUNG AND ARTICULATE US PRESIDENT (JOHN F KENNEDY) TO LIVE A DREAM

 

WE RESPONDED TO THAT CALL AND WROTE THE BOOK ON MANY OF HISTORY’S GREATEST MOMENTS

 

OUR TECHNOLOGIES WERE PRIMITIVE, BUT IT WAS THE BEST WE COULD MUSTER

 

SUCCESS IN OUR WORK WAS NEVER A GIVEN, FOR THE MARGINS WERE SLIM AND THE ODDS LONG

 

WHEN OUR TECHNOLOGY FAILED, AS IT OFTEN DID,

ALL WE HAD WAS OURSELVES, THE HUMAN FACTOR

 

IT IS THE FEELING YOU GET EVERYDAY WHEN YOU WALK UP TO YOUR CONSOLE IN THE CONTROL ROOM

 

IT IS WHAT WE MUST DEPEND ON WHEN THE GLITTERING TECHNOLOGY SEEMS SUDDENLY USELESS

 

SO WHAT WE LACKED IN TECHNOLOGY, WE MADE UP IN GUTS, HARD WORK AND THE DETERMINATION TO SUCCEED

 

ALONG THE WAY WE LEARNED MUCH, WE LEARNED ABOUT OURSELVES AND ABOUT EACH OTHER

 

WE LEARNED THE MEANING OF TRUST, A PERSONS WORD WAS THEIR BOND

 

A HANDSHAKE WAS A COMMITMENT

 

WE KNEW THAT IF WE WERE IN TROUBLE, THE PEOPLE SITTING TO EACH SIDE, OR IN THE BACKROOM OR AT SOME OTHER LOCATION WOULD HELP US OUT

 

A SET OF COMMON VALUES TIED US TOGETHER

 

THE VALUES GENERATED A CHEMISTRY THAT AMPLIFIED OUR INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM CAPABILITIES AND SOMEHOW MADE US BETTER THAN WE WOULD OTHERWISE BE:

 

THIS CHEMISTRY DEVELOPED A COMMUNICATIONS THAT WAS VIRTUALLY INTUITIVE

 

YOU KNEW WHEN ANOTHER PERSON NEEDED HELP, HE NEVER HAD TO ASK: IT JUST ARRIVED

 

THE TOUGHER IT GOT THE BETTER WE BECAME

 

TEAMWORK WAS SPECTACULAR, IT WAS UNSELFISH AND LOVING

 

WHEN NEEDED, PEOPLE STEPPED FORWARD, THEY MADE THEIR CONTRIBUTION AND THEN RETURNED TO THEIR ROLE IN THE TEAM

 

WE UNDERSTOOD THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “I” AND “WE”

 

SIMPLE WORDS PROPELLED US FORWARD

 

“TOUGHNESS” MEANT PLUMBING INTO THE DEPTHS OF ACCOUNTABILITY, STANDING UP FOR OUR BELIEFS, AND ACCEPTING A ROUGHER ROAD

 

“COMPTETANCE” WAS THE ACCEPTED STANDARD

 

IT WAS THE ESSENCE OF EXCELLENCE AND THE PRICE OF ADMISSION TO OUR RANKS AS CONTROLLERS

 

FOURTY YEARS HAS NOT DIMINISHED OUR EFFORT, IN FACT ENHANCED IT

 

WE WERE THE RIGHT PEOPLE AT THE RIGHT TIME

 

WE TOOK A MAN INTO SPACE, WE RENDEZVOUSED, WE DOCKED, WE DID EVA’S AND WE PLACED A MAN ON THE MOON AND BROUGHT HIM BACK SAFELY TO EARTH

 

MY FAVORITE QUOTE BY JOHN F KENNEDY IS NOT ABOUT THE MOON, IT IS ABOUT LIVING:  “OF THOSE TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN, MUCH IS REQUIRED”

 

WHEN AT SOME FUTURE DATE, WHEN THE HIGH COURT OF HISTORY SITS IN JUDGMENT ON EACH ONE OF US, WHETHER WE FULFILLED OUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN WHATEVER JOB WE HELD.  WE WILL BE MEASURED BY THE ANSWERS TO FOUR QUESTIONS:

 

WERE WE TRULY INDIVIDUALS OF COURAGE?

WERE WE TRULY INDIVIDUALS OF JUDGMENT?

WERE WE TRULY INDIVIDUALS OF INTEGRITY?

WERE WE TRULY INDIVIDUALS OF DEDICATION?

 

IN THE HIGH COURT OF HISTORY, I BELIEVE, THAT ALL PERSONNEL AT THE AUSTRALIA TRACKING STATIONS WILL BE ABLE TO STEP FORWARD AND CLEARLY SAY “YES”