2023-11-10 17:02:30
by Carlo Baroni
He was 95 years old. He was the commander of the Apollo 8 spaceflight at Christmas 1968
He had only caressed the Moon. It was Christmas days. In that ’68 that would change the Earth. Frank Borman sailed in space, the first to orbit our satellite. A name that remained engraved for the boomer generation. Frank Borman has left us. He was 95 years old. A long journey on our planet that he had crossed with the light steps of an astronaut in space. The first to make us understand that the impossible did not exist. Frank Borman had the face of a good America. The very short, blond hair of a boy from Indiana where he was born. So different from the cold colleagues described by Oriana Fallaci. Borman had a deep spirituality that intensified when he found himself in that infinite space where no human being had previously been. In his own way, and perhaps despite himself, he also became a pop character. And even on the cover of a Led Zeppelin LP.
First there was a military career, graduated from the legendary West Point and then a fighter pilot. The arrival in Houston to participate in the NASA space project. The first trip to the stars with the Gemini mission and then Apollo 8 crewed by James Lovell and William Anders. It became the most iconic of space feats. With the historic cover of Life with the Earth rising from the Moon. During the night of Christmas Eve, Frank Borman in orbit around the Moon addressed a message to those on Earth: they read the first steps of Genesis (the book common to the three main monotheistic religions) and wished a Merry Christmas to all earthlings.
After leaving NASA, he became president of an airline, Eastern Airlines, cleaning up the budgets and spreading the salaries across all the employees.
The last years on a ranch in New Mexico.
Goodbye Commander Borman, like the little prince you have returned to your stars.
November 10, 2023 (modified November 10, 2023 | 6:01 pm)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
#Frank #Borman #man #orbit #Moon #dies #Corriere.it