Veteran Communicators Honored with ‘Chroniclers’ Recognition

Three veteran space program communicators recently were honored at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for their contributions delivering U.S. space exploration news and information to the American people and the world. During a May 1, 2023 ceremony at the Florida Spaceport’s News Center, the names of Bob Granath, Red Huber and Mark Kramer were added to the facility’s “Chroniclers wall.”

“The Chroniclers” is a communicators’ “hall of fame” recognizing retired NASA and contractor public affairs professionals, along with journalists and authors who helped spread news of the nation’s efforts in space from Kennedy for 10 years or more. Past honorees include NASA’s Jack King and Hugh Harris, along with journalists such as Walter Cronkite of CBS and Roy Neal of NBC.

Kennedy Space Center Deputy Director Kelvin Manning presented Granath with a certificate stating: “In recognition of your many contributions to the public understanding of the space program through your work at the Kennedy Space Center. Working in concert with communications in every medium, your eminent career has inspired knowledge and inspired dreams worldwide.”

In February 2019, Granath retired after a career of more than 35 years in communications, primarily supporting America’s Space Shuttle Program with Lockheed Martin Space Operations and United Space Alliance. Following the end of shuttle flights, he joined the Writers Group at Kennedy’s Press Site, working for Abacus Technology and, later, ASRC-Federal.

Granath continues supporting the agency’s mission as a volunteer docent at the space center and as author and editor of the SpaceAgeChronicle.com website telling stories of historic efforts to explore and utilize the space frontier.

“Many thanks to the Chroniclers selection committee for this recognition,” Granath said during the ceremony. “I especially want to express my appreciation to my boss and mentor at Lockheed Martin, Dr. John Williams, for his nomination. He taught me much of what I know about the public relations profession. John always emphasized his belief that ‘public relations skills begin and end with the ability to write.’”

Lockheed Martin Space Operations was the agency’s Space Shuttle Processing Contractor, with Williams serving as director of Public Affairs.

“Bob Granath did an outstanding job in his career in Communications and Public Affairs supporting America’s space program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center,” he said. “While working for me, he was editor and principal writer for our award-winning company newspaper, the Star Gazer. Additionally, he later served as our authoritative Media Relations liaison.”

Huber is a highly respected photojournalist who documented NASA activities at Kennedy since the Apollo 15 launch to the Moon in July 1971. As a senior staff photojournalist with the Orlando Sentinel, he covered the U.S. space program from the Florida spaceport for 40 years, including many rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. An Emmy-nominated photojournalist, Huber’s work has appeared worldwide online and in print in National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times.

Kramer is an Emmy Award-winning producer who worked for CBS News for 48 years, covering a wide variety of stories that took him around the globe. As the CBS News space producer, he covered more than 100 flights, including all the manned Apollo missions, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz (from Moscow), and witnessed 87 Space Shuttle launches. In the course of those assignments, he helped design the CBS News building at the Kennedy Press Site.

A Good Career Option

When Granath went to work for Williams, it fulfilled a childhood dream.

“I became interested in spaceflight after watching a 1955 episode of Walt Disney’s Disneyland TV show,” he said. “Wernher von Braun was the guest expert explaining how we could use rockets to send people to space, explore the Moon and, eventually, go to Mars. I was fascinated.”

The day astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth; Granath’s career goal began to come into focus.

“My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Ann Bell, believed we could learn more watching the network television coverage of Glenn’s flight than anything she could teach that day,” he said. “Every now and then, we heard reports from the Mercury Control Center from John “Shorty” Powers. He explained all the complex technical stuff so an 11-year-old kid like me could not only understand it, but also want to know more. He worked in an area of NASA called ‘Public Affairs.’ I decided that sounded like a good career option.”

While in elementary school, high school and college, Granath fulfilled many assignments applying his knowledge of spaceflight to subjects from science and math to history, making presentations to classmates. After graduation from the University of West Georgia in 1972, he frequently spoke to school and civic groups on space exploration.

Star Gazer

In 1983, Granath was given the opportunity to join Williams’ Public Affairs staff with Lockheed Martin as part of the Shuttle Processing Contract Team at Kennedy. Under Williams’ leadership, the company’s public affairs work quickly became a model for others to follow.

Granath was assigned the role of editor for the company’s newspaper, the Star Gazer. The emphasis was not only shuttle missions, but also included focusing on the role of individuals and teams of employees, their jobs and achievements.

After a few months of publication, the program manager for EG&G, NASA’s Base Operations Contractor, asked his Public Affairs manager, Laurie Smirl, to “go talk to that guy who does the Lockheed Star Gazer. I want our newspaper to look as good as his.”

In 1985, Kennedy’s Director of Public Affairs, Chuck Hollinshead, also praised the publication.

“Since Vol. 1, No. 1, it has been a first-rate publication,” he said in a note to Williams. “Please pass on my congratulations to Bob Granath.”

Throughout the Space Shuttle Program, Granath published biographical sketches of astronaut crews in the Star Gazer. He pointed out that this was “not just for interest, but also to underscore that their lives depended on the employees’ daily work on the flight hardware.”

“I had an idea for each mission commander to write a short message on behalf of the crew to the shuttle workforce,” he said. “I contacted Donald Puddy, then director of Flight Crew Operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, with the proposal that the commander provide a sentence or two that would be a ‘pull quote’ at the beginning of the biographies.”

Puddy agreed to support the idea.

“The Star Gazer is an outstanding newspaper and we are delighted to support your request for a statement from each mission commander,” he said.

After Granath was promoted to Lockheed Martin’s chief of Media Relations, he took on more responsibilities and an unusual task came up in December 1994.

Lockheed Martin systems engineer Kay Hire was the first Kennedy employee selected as an astronaut. After Granath organized a news conference for Hire to speak to local reporters, her telephone immediately rang constantly as additional interviews were requested. Granath arranged for Hire’s calls to be directed to his telephone. Until she reported for duty at Johnson in February 1995, he served as her personal press agent screening all calls for interviews and speaking engagements.

While serving as center director at Kennedy from 1995 to 1997, Jay Honeycutt and Lockheed Martin’s Deputy Launch Site Director, Mike McCulley, provided a tour of the Florida spaceport for Doug Stephan, host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Good Day USA. Stephan suggested a weekly, 10 to 15-minute update on work at Kennedy.

McCulley and Williams agreed and Granath eventually became the weekly spokesperson for Lockheed Martin and, later, United Space Alliance. According to Stephan, the broadcasts reached 2.2 million listeners coast-to-coast each weekday. While Granath was usually the person interviewed, on occasions he arranged for interviews with guests such as McCulley and Grumman President Fred Haise, lunar module pilot on the Apollo 13 mission.

In 1996, Granath, along with thousands of other Space Shuttle team members, transitioned to United Space Alliance (USA). The new contractor was a limited liability company owned equally by Lockheed Martin and Boeing. USA operated the Space Shuttle Program for NASA at Kennedy, Johnson and the Marshall Space flight Center in Alabama.

‘Reaching Out‘

With the consolidation of several Space Coast contractors, those who depend on community service organizations looked to USA to take a leading role in assisting charitable organizations on Florida’s Space Coast. Granath and his USA Communications and Public Relations colleague, Beverly Crowell, worked to find innovative ways to ensure the most extensive support possible.

Granath looked for an “outside-the-box” way to not only encourage employees to support USA’s “company-sponsored” community events of management’s choosing, but also select worthy volunteer causes on their own. The key was to allow small groups to organize efforts while meeting on company time. Granath proposed “company supported” events in which managers allow individual groups to meet briefly during the workday. These individual groups then would provide feedback to Granath on their activities. This way, their work could be included in reports on USA’s employee volunteerism.

Between October 1997 and September 1998, more than 2,000 USA volunteers put in about 20,000 hours supporting dozens different organizations while raising $68,500. In that same timeframe, USA company contributions, through an “Employee One Fund” and donations raised by employees as a part of volunteer events, provided contributions to a broad-base variety of organizations. They supported education, health services, civic endeavors and the cultural life of the community.

Heidi Brandow, president of the Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, nominated United Space Alliance at Kennedy for Florida Today’s 1998 “Reaching Out” Volunteer Recognition Award for Business of the Year.

“In less than two years after its formation, USA has become a key community leader on Florida’s Space Coast and has made a major impact on the quality of life for all citizens of Brevard County,” she wrote in her nomination.

On Nov. 18, 1998, Florida Today President and Publisher Michael Coleman presented their “Business of the Year” award to USA for “proactive community involvement.”

During his tenure with Lockheed Martin and USA, Granath was the primary point of contact for VIP tours of the Florida spaceport. Guests included Dr. George Mueller, NASA’s associate administrator for Space Flight from 1963 to 1969, as well as the agency’s famed flight director, Gene Kranz.

‘Public Relations Professional of the Year’

In September 2005, Bob Granath was presented Florida Public Relations Association’s “Public Relations Professional of the Year.” According to Rosalind Postell, president of the Space Coast Chapter of FPRA, the award was “In recognition of your demonstration of the highest standards of ethics, performance and serviced to the public relations profession.” Joining in the presentation were United Space Alliance colleagues, from the left, Jim Furr, Granath, Tracy Yates, Selene Bruns and the Canaveral Port Authority’s Director of Communications, Postell. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/June Granath

‘Not Only Inform, but Inspire‘

Shortly after the end of the Space Shuttle Program, Granath became a member of the Writer’s Group at the NASA News Center. While his features and video scripts for the NASA web covered a myriad of subjects, he quickly became the go-to person for articles about the agency’s history.

Between 2015 and 2016, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the two-man Gemini missions that confirmed the agency mastered the technology needed to send crews to the Moon. Granath wrote a series of features on each of the crewed Gemini flights during that time and the articles became the agency’s primary half-century record of the historic missions.

“This Gemini series is great,” Dr. Bill Barry, NASA’s chief historian, said at the time. “Bob does a great job of telling the story with just enough detail to keep it tight, but interesting.”

In 2017, Granath was recipient of the NASA Communications Contractor Employee of the Quarter award. Amanda Griffin, NASA deputy chief of the Communication Office, submitted the nomination.

“Bob’s extensive knowledge of the space program spans decades,” she said. ”His wisdom shines through in flawlessly written stories that marry our accomplishments with our future endeavors. Bob has a gift of taking the first-hand knowledge he has accumulated over the years and weaving it into stories that not only inform, but also inspire. Our team would be seriously lacking without the expertise and excitement Bob humbly brings to the table each and every day.”

After retiring in 2019, Granath quickly became active in Kennedy’s docent program. His volunteer efforts have included serving as an interview subject for an Abu Dhabi Television documentary crew reporting on the history of the Space Shuttle Program. Additionally, he has helped with events such as employee and family attendance for the Artemis 1 Rollout, as well as escorting news media for Crew Dragon launches to the International Space Station.

“It’s been a privilege to help tell the stories of the people whose efforts are awe inspiring,” Granath said. “Their narratives include not only NASA leaders and astronauts, but also the scientists, engineers and technicians who make it all happen. I enjoy sharing their achievements with the world.”

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