2023-11-10 02:13:02
Frank Borman, the NASA astronaut who led the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, the first manned space flight around the Moon, died at the age of 95, the US space agency reported this Thursday.
Borman died on November 7 in Billings, Montana (northwest), according to information provided in a bulletin by that agency.
“Today we remember one of NASA’s best,” said agency administrator Bill Nelson, quoted in the statement.
“His lifelong love of aviation and exploration was surpassed only by his love for his wife Susan,” he concluded.
Born on March 14, 1928 in Gary, Indiana, Borman began his career in the United States Air Force, where he flew as a fighter and test pilot, and became an assistant professor of thermodynamics at the West Point Military Academy.
However, he will be remembered as a pioneer of space exploration.
He set the record for 14 days in space during the 1965 Gemini 7 mission with Jim Lovell. On this trip, the first space encounter with the Gemini 6 spacecraft occurred.
Borman went on to command Apollo 8, with which he became one of the first three humans, along with his companions Lovell and William Anders, to see and photograph the far side of the Moon.
Apollo 8 was also famous for achieving “Earthrise”, an iconic image of the planet and part of the lunar surface, taken by Anders on December 4, 1968.
Following his career at NASA, Borman became CEO of Eastern Airlines.
“Frank knew the power of exploration to unite humanity when he said, ‘Exploration is truly the essence of the human spirit,'” Nelson added.
“Their service to NASA and our nation will undoubtedly propel the Artemis Generation to reach new cosmic shores,” he added, referring to the space program that hopes to re-explore the Moon and take the first woman and next man to the natural satellite in 2025.
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