Apollo astronaut Col. Frank Borman, who served as the commander of the Apollo 8 mission, the first to fly to the moon, has passed away at the age of 95.
Col. Borman died on Nov. 7 in Billings, Montana, according to NASA officials.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called Col. Borman a “true American hero” and “one of NASA’s best.”
Col. Borman attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1950 and in that same year married his high school sweetheart, Susan Bugbee.
She died in 2021. The couple have two sons, Frederick and Edwin, and four grandchildren.
“His lifelong love for aviation and exploration was only surpassed by his love for his wife Susan,” Mr. Nelson said of the Apollo astronaut in a statement.
“Frank began his career as an officer with the U.S. Air Force. His love of flying proved essential through his positions as a fighter pilot, operational pilot, test pilot, and assistant professor. His exceptional experience and expertise led him to be chosen by NASA to join the second group of astronauts,” Mr. Nelson said.
Borman Makes History
Among his many accomplishments, Col. Borman made history when he commanded Apollo 8’s Christmas 1968 flight that circled the moon 10 times looking for potential landing spots for future moonwalks, which took place the following year.The flight carried three astronauts including Capt. James Lovell and Maj. William Anders, and launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Dec. 21, 1968.
The crew spent three days traveling to the moon and slipped into lunar orbit on Christmas Eve but stopped short of stepping foot on the moon, instead circling it 10 times on Dec. 24–25.
On Christmas Eve, the astronauts took turns reading from the Book of Genesis in a live telecast before Col. Borman ended the broadcast with, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.”
They headed back to Earth on Dec. 27.
“In addition to his critical role as commander of the Apollo 8 mission, he is a veteran of Gemini 7, spending 14 days in low-Earth orbit and conducting the first rendezvous in space, coming within a few feet of the Gemini 6 spacecraft,” Mr. Nelson said in Thursday’s statement, referencing Col. Borman commanding the two-man Gemini 7 spacecraft in December 1965.
‘This Must Be What God Sees’
“Gemini was a tough go,” Col. Borman told The Associated Press of that mission in 1998. “It was smaller than the front seat of a Volkswagen bug. It made Apollo seem like a super-duper, plush touring bus.”In 1967, Col. Borman also served as a member of the Apollo 204 Fire Investigation Board, which probed the causes of a fire that killed three astronauts aboard an Apollo spacecraft.
Later he became the Apollo Program resident manager, leading the team that reengineered the Apollo spacecraft. He also served as field director of NASA’s Space Station Task Force.
Col. Borman continued his passion for aviation following his career with NASA when he became CEO of Eastern Airlines during a time of severe economic turbulence in the 1970s and early 1980s.
He resigned in 1986 and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“Frank knew the power exploration held in uniting humanity when he said, ‘Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.’ His service to NASA and our nation will undoubtedly fuel the Artemis Generation to reach new cosmic shores,'” Mr. Nelson concluded.
In his 1988 autobiography, “Countdown,” Col. Borman described how Earth looked from afar during the Apollo 8 mission.
“We were the first humans to see the world in its majestic totality, an intensely emotional experience for each of us,” he wrote. “We said nothing to each other, but I was sure our thoughts were identical—of our families on that spinning globe. And maybe we shared another thought I had, ‘This must be what God sees.’”
