Warning: This article contains spoilers for Fly Me to the Moon.

Fly Me to the Moon centers on the fictional Apollo 11 flight director Cole Davis, but his real-life counterpart continued living a fascinating and fulfilling life after the moon landing. The Apple Original movie starts eight months before man lands on the moon, exploring the public relations team’s effort to sell the US on the moon landing. The big-city marketer Kelly Jones pushes up against the work of the Apollo 11 flight director Cole Davis, creating tension within the agency. By Fly Me to the Moon’s ending, Neil Armstrong has taken the first step on the moon.

Other than the astronauts and the president, Fly Me to the Moon’s characters are fictional. Nobody named Moe Berkus or Kelly Jones was involved in the space race in the same capacity as the characters. As such, their stories cease when the movie ends. However, Cole Davis was loosely inspired by an actual person involved in the Apollo 11 mission.

Fly Me To The Moon’s Cole Davis Is Loosely Based On Gene Kranz

Gene Kranz Was The Flight Director For Apollo 11

While the characters in Fly Me to the Moon are fictional, Cole Davis takes inspiration from the real-life flight director for the Apollo 11 mission, Eugene “Gene” Kranz. In his book Failure Is Not An Option: Mission Control From Mercury To Apollo, Kranz shares that he served as a pilot in the military before working with NASA, as Cole Davis did in Fly Me to the Moon. He also wanted to be an astronaut but ended up working in the control room for NASA instead.

Many of the events involving Cole Davis also happened in real life. Gene Kranz harbored a lot of guilt for his involvement in Apollo 1, though the idea that he was directly on site when they opened up the capsule is a change to the true story in Fly Me to the Moon. In real life, Kranz gave his team a speech the day after the tragedy about their shared responsibility in what occurred. The movie also leaves out The Kranz Dictum, the flight director’s speech about their new motto in the aftermath, “Tough and Competent.”

“Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control, we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect.” -Part of The Kranz Dictum (via Failure Is Not An Option – A Flight Control History of NASA)

The speech Cole gives before the Apollo 11 takeoff in Fly Me to the Moon matches up with the sentiment of what Kranz said to his controllers before the launch. According to his interview with KPRC 2, Kranz stated “I will stand behind every decision you will make. We came into this room a team, and we will leave as a team.” He also quieted everyone down when they started loudly celebrating because they needed to focus.

However, Fly Me to the Moon makes a few notable changes to the actual flight director’s background. Kranz didn’t have a romance with anyone on the NASA public relations team. He married a woman named Marta Cadena before he joined the agency. He also didn’t learn about a secret government project related to Apollo 11 because, despite what Fly Me to the Moon says, NASA never faked the moon landing.

Gene Kranz Was NASA’s Flight Director For Apollo 13

Gene Kranz’s Team Saved The Apollo 13 Astronauts

While Gene Kranz was the leader who helped land astronauts on the moon, he’s perhaps best known for his role as the flight director for Apollo 13. This mission was meant to land on the moon, but things went horribly awry when one of the oxygen tanks exploded, shutting down two of the three fuel cells and damaging the second oxygen tank. Kranz was about to leave when the astronauts contacted them with the famous words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The flight director kicked into high gear, getting his men in line to save the lives of the astronauts.

Kranz and his men decided that the best way to save their men was for the spacecraft to slingshot around the moon using its gravity rather than perform a direct abort. He placed three engineers in charge and went into problem-solving mode. For every success, there was another issue. The astronauts were dehydrated, sleep-deprived, and suffering through approximately freezing temperatures. By the last stretch, the control team had been working for almost 80 hours straight to get the astronauts home. Through luck, preparation, and immense teamwork, the Apollo 13 astronauts came home alive. (via BBC Sky at Night Magazine)

Gene Kranz’s Life After Retiring From NASA

Kranz Wrote Two Books About His Time At NASA

Gene Kranz continued working at NASA throughout the rest of the Space Race. After working on Apollo 17, Gene Kranz retired from NASA in 1994. The famous flight director went on to give many interviews and speak at lectures. Over the years, he donated many of the vests he wore during missions to charity. Kranz’s white Apollo 13 vest and pin were donated to the Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum for preservation after he spoke there in 2005.

Kranz went on to write two books – Failure Is Not An Option: Mission Control From Mercury To Apollo, which came out in 2000, and Tough And Competent: Leadership And Team Chemistry, which was released in 2023. Gene Kranz is still alive as of Fly Me to the Moon’s release at the age of 90.

Sources: Failure Is Not An Option: Mission Control From Mercury To Apollo, KPRC 2, Failure Is Not An Option – A Flight Control History of NASA, BBC Sky at Night Magazine, and Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum