Astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded the historic Christmas 1968 Apollo 8 flight that circled the moon 10 times and paved the way for the moon landing the following year, has died. He is 95 years old.
Borman died on Tuesday in Billings, Montana, according to NASA.
Borman also headed the troubled Eastern Airlines in the 1970s and early 80s after leaving the astronaut corps.
But he is best known for his NASA work.
He and his crew, James Lovell and William Anders, were the first Apollo missions to fly to the moon — and see Earth as a distant sphere in space.
“Today we remember one of the best from NASA. Astronaut Frank Borman was a true American hero,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement Thursday. “His lifelong love of flight and exploration was surpassed only by his love for his wife Susan.”
Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman poses in Billings, Mont., with a picture of Earth taken when his spacecraft orbited the moon 45 years ago. AP
Launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 trio spent three days traveling to the moon, and slipped into lunar orbit on Christmas Eve.
After they circled 10 times on Dec. 24-25, they returned home on Dec. 27.
On Christmas Eve, the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis in a live broadcast from the orbiter: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and empty; and darkness covered the ocean.”
Apollo 8 crew (left to right): Jim Lovell, command module pilot; Bill Anders, a rookie pilot; and Frank Borman, commander pictured together.
Borman ended the broadcast with, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, Merry Christmas, and God bless you all – all of you on good Earth.”
Lovell and Borman had previously flown together during the two-week Gemini 7 mission, which launched on December 4, 1965 — and, at a distance of just 120 feet, completed the first space-orbit rendezvous with Gemini 6.
“Gemini is a difficult endeavor,” Borman told The Associated Press in 1998. “It’s smaller than the front seat of a Volkswagen bug. It makes the Apollo look like a super-duper, luxurious tour bus.”
Borman also headed the troubled Eastern Airlines in the 1970s and early ’80s after leaving the astronaut corps.NASA/AFP via Getty Images
In his book, “Countdown: An Autobiography,” Borman said Apollo 8 was originally supposed to orbit the Earth.
The success of the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 to demonstrate the system’s reliability on long-duration flight made NASA decide it was time to take pictures of flying to the moon.
But Borman said there was another reason NASA changed the plan: the agency wanted to defeat Russia. Borman said he thought one orbit would be enough.
“My main concern in this whole flight was to get there before Russia and get home. That’s a significant achievement in my eyes,” explained Borman at a Chicago appearance in 2017.
On the crew’s fourth orbit, Anders captured the iconic “Earthrise” photo showing the blue and white Earth rising above the gray lunar landscape.
Borman wrote about how the Earth looks from afar: “We were the first humans to see the world in its majestic entirety, a very emotional experience for each of us. We didn’t say anything to each other, but I’m sure our thoughts were the same — about our family in that spinning world. And maybe we share another thought that I have, This must be what God sees.”
Astronaut Frank Broman, command pilot of the Gemini 7 Prime crew, sits in a trailer at Kenendy Space Center with commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr.Bettmann Archive
After NASA, Borman’s aviation career ventured into business in 1970 when he joined Eastern Airlines — at the time the nation’s fourth largest airline.
He eventually became president and CEO of Eastern and in 1976 also became chairman of its board.
Borman’s tenure at Eastern saw fuel prices rise sharply and the government deregulate the airline industry.
Left to right: Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders, Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr. and Commander Frank F Borman II seen in the Apollo 8 spacecraft. Getty Images
The airline became increasingly unprofitable, saddled with debt and torn by labor tensions.
He resigned in 1986 and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
In his autobiography, Borman wrote that his interest in aviation began in his teens when he and his father would assemble model airplanes.
Apollo astronaut Frank Borman, 92, drives his Mentor T-34 in Billings, Mont.AP
At age 15, Borman took flying lessons, using the money he saved working as a bag boy and pumping gas after school.
He took his first solo flight after eight hours of two commands.
He continued to fly into his 90s.
Borman was born in Gary, Indiana, but grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
He attended the US Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1950.
That same year, Borman married his high school sweetheart, Susan Bugbee. He died in 2021.
Borman worked as a US Air Force fighter pilot, operational pilot and instructor at West Point after graduation.
In 1956, Borman moved his family to Pasadena, California, where he earned a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
In 1962, he was one of nine test pilots selected by NASA for the astronaut program.
He received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Jimmy Carter.
In 1998, Borman started a cattle ranch in Bighorn, Montana, with his son, Fred.
In addition to Fred, she is survived by another son, Edwin, and their family.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
