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Frank Frederick Borman, II (born March 14, 1928) was a NASA astronaut, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon. He was also the CEO of Eastern Air Lines from 1975 to 1986.
Borman was born in Gary, Indiana. Because he suffered from numerous sinus problems in the cold and damp weather, his father packed up the family and moved to the better climate of Tucson, Arizona, which Borman considers his home town. He started to fly at the age of 15. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1950, and along with part of his graduating class, he entered the U.S. Air Force and became a fighter pilot. [At that time, there was not a U.S. Air Force Academy, which did not graduate its first class until 1959.] Later, he was selected for the U.S.A.F. test pilot school and became a test pilot. He was selected for the second NASA astronaut group in 1962.
His first spaceflight was in Gemini 7 in 1965, with astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr.. highlighted by the first space rendezvous with Gemini 6A. Gemini 7 was also the long-endurance flight of the Gemini program, staying in orbit for 14 days. His second significant flight was as commander of the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968. In this one, he flew with James Lovell again, and also with William A. Anders. The mission was originally planned as a Saturn V-powered "Large Earth Orbit" mission to test tracking and communication, but this was changed into the first lunar orbit mission. Apollo 8 went into lunar orbit and made 10 orbits of the Moon in December 1968. This was a springboard in NASA's (successful) attempt to land a man on the moon on 20 July 1969 with Apollo 11.
Borman retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1970, becoming special advisor to Eastern Air Lines. He rose in the ranks of Eastern, becoming CEO in December 1975. The airline business underwent many changes in the late 1970s, and despite a promising start, Eastern ultimately did not do well under Borman. Borman sold Eastern to Frank Lorenzo and Texas Air after many contentious battles with labor unions, particularly the IAM. Lorenzo plundered Eastern for its assets. A strike by the IAM in 1989 eventually forced Eastern into bankruptcy and finally liquidation. Borman retired from Eastern in 1986.
Borman returned to Tucson, Arizona, to reside, and currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico [2005], where he enjoys rebuilding and flying airplanes from World War II and the Korean era. His current favorite airplane is a dual-control TF-51 Mustang fighter.
Awards
- Society of Experimental Test Pilots James H. Doolittle Award, 1976
Trivia
- In Indiana, Interstates 80 and 94 combine for several miles to form the Frank Borman Expressway.
- Frank Borman was played in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon by David Andrews.
- Frank Borman is famous (or infamous) for his reading of the Book of Genesis during a TV transmission on Christmas Eve on Apollo 8. This stirred up a good deal of public controversy, and after this, astronauts were advised not to carry out any personal religious messages while in the process of a mission. This explains why Buzz Aldrin took private communion on the Moon.
- Frank Borman was called "No Nonsense Borman" by his fellow astronauts.
- Was known to be a serious leader.
- Frank Borman is the grandfather of former Duke basketball player Andy Borman
- As a young man, Col. Borman belonged to DeMolay International, and he is currently in the DeMolay Hall of Fame.
Reference
External links
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