TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo Express Airport will soon have a new name.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced Wednesday on The Scott Sands Show that the airport will soon be renamed in honor of NASA flight director and Central Catholic graduate Gene Krantz.
"We're not at the stage where we're debating logistics or should we do it. We're simply saying 'okay, we're doing this. How long will it take for us to physically knock down that sign out on Airport Highway and order a new one?'," Mayor Kapszukiewicz said.
The Mayor said the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority may be willing to pay the full cost of the name change. The cost is estimated to run between $75,000 and $100,000.
Gene Krantz was born in 1933 in Toledo and graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1951. He was the flight director for the Apollo 11 mission that put the first man on the moon and the lead flight director during the Apollo 13 mission. Krantz became director of NASA Mission Operations in 1983, retiring in 1994 after more than 30 years with NASA.
You can here the full conversation with Mayor Kapszukiewicz below.