Astronaut who led humanity’s first mission around the Moon dead at 95

He died on November 7 in Billings, Montana.

“Today we commemorate one of NASA’s best,” Bill Nelson, the agency’s administrator, said in a statement.

“His lifelong love of aviation and exploration was exceeded only by his love for his wife Susan.”

Born on March 14, 1928 in Gary, Indiana, he began his career in the United States Air Force, where he flew as a fighter pilot, a test pilot and became an assistant professor of thermodynamics at West Point.

But he will be remembered as a pioneer in space exploration.

He set a then-record of 14 days in space during the 1965 Gemini 7 mission with Jim Lovell. The trip included the first space rendezvous with the Gemini 6 spacecraft.

Borman was then given command of Apollo 8, where, along with crew members Lovell and William Anders, he became one of the first three people to see and photograph the far side of the moon.

Apollo 8 was also famous for producing ‘Earthrise’ – an iconic image of the Earth and part of the moon’s surface, taken by Anders on December 4, 1968.

After his career at NASA, he became CEO of Eastern Airlines.

“Frank knew the power exploration required to unite humanity when he said, ‘Exploration is truly the essence of the human spirit,’” Nelson said. “His service to NASA and our nation will undoubtedly fuel the Artemis generation to reach new cosmic shores.”

it/md