Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. was an American aerospace engineer and NASA engineer and manager who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control operation. Following his graduation from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1944, Kraft was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He worked for over a decade in aeronautical research before being asked in 1958 to join the Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America's first man in space. Assigned to the flight operations division, Kraft became NASA's first flight director. He was on duty during such historic
Jade Wallace (they/them) is a queer poet, fiction writer, and critic. They are the author of two poetry collections LOVE IS A PLACE BUT YOU CANNOT LIVE THERE (2023) and THE WORK IS DONE WHEN WE ARE DEAD (2026), both from Guernica Editions. Wallace's debut novel ANOMIA is out with Palimpsest Press in June 2024. Wallace is also the co-founder of MA|DE, a collaborative writing entity whose first full-length collection ZZOO is forthcoming from Palimpsest Press in 2025. More: jadewallace.ca + ma-de.ca
