Frank Borman

Frank Frederick Borman II (March 14, 1928 – November 7, 2023) was an American <a href="/facts/United_States_Air_Force/7MxWBYlc">United States Air Force</a> (USAF) <a href="/facts/Colonel_(United_States)/eva6u8ok">colonel</a>, <a href="/facts/Aeronautical_engineer/2Ib02w7f">aeronautical engineer</a>, <a href="/facts/NASA_astronaut/KIrAUWHN">NASA astronaut</a>, <a href="/facts/Test_pilot/4zyLIYdj">test pilot</a>, and businessman. He was the commander of <a href="/facts/Apollo_8/uKkRsnSL">Apollo 8</a>, the first mission to fly around the Moon, and together with crewmates <a href="/facts/Jim_Lovell/4LTanxu2">Jim Lovell</a> and <a href="/facts/William_Anders/ToP9YKwp">William Anders</a>, became the <a href="/facts/List_of_Apollo_astronauts/nXReWvNK">first of 24 humans to do so</a>, for which he was awarded the <a href="/facts/Congressional_Space_Medal_of_Honor/m63rYu3x">Congressional Space Medal of Honor</a>.
Four days before he graduated with the <a href="/facts/West_Point/px9g8rhT">West Point</a> Class of 1950, in which he was ranked eighth out of 670, Borman was commissioned in the USAF. He qualified as a <a href="/facts/Fighter_pilot/QvqJ7y6K">fighter pilot</a> and served in the Philippines. He earned a <a href="/facts/Master_of_Science/5xKwvXjm">Master of Science</a> degree at <a href="/facts/Caltech/3FPcp7BL">Caltech</a> in 1957, and then became an assistant professor of <a href="/facts/Thermodynamics/q4hIx3yP">thermodynamics</a> and <a href="/facts/Fluid_mechanics/NIy4tRfE">fluid mechanics</a> at West Point. In 1960, he was selected for Class 60-C at the <a href="/facts/USAF_Experimental_Flight_Test_Pilot_School/11vNWoyU">USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School</a> at <a href="/facts/Edwards_Air_Force_Base/MwAW8n6a">Edwards Air Force Base</a> in California and qualified as a test pilot. On graduation, he was accepted as one of five students in the first class at the <a href="/facts/Aerospace_Research_Pilot_School/11vNWoyU">Aerospace Research Pilot School</a>.
Borman was selected as a NASA astronaut with the second group, known as the <a href="/facts/Next_Nine/eymG5Wh6">Next Nine</a>, in 1962. In 1966, he set a fourteen-day spaceflight endurance record as commander of <a href="/facts/Gemini_7/5h26vRrV">Gemini 7</a>. He served on the NASA review board which investigated the <a href="/facts/Apollo_1/aJEvDnBM">Apollo 1</a> fire, and then flew to the Moon with Apollo 8 in December 1968. The mission is known for the <a href="/facts/Earthrise/qopnchV2">Earthrise</a> photograph taken by Anders of the Earth rising above the lunar horizon as the <a href="/facts/Command%2fService_Module/rfoTgzFx">Command/Service Module</a> orbited the Moon, and for <a href="/facts/Apollo_8_Genesis_reading/Ye3DfHcq">the reading from Genesis</a>, which was televised to Earth from <a href="/facts/Lunar_orbit/486BxvD6">lunar orbit</a> on Christmas Eve. During the <a href="/facts/Apollo_11/BdUKVnQP">Apollo 11</a> Moon landing mission, he was the NASA liaison at the <a href="/facts/White_House/CJQc7dKF">White House</a>, where he viewed the launch on television with President <a href="/facts/Richard_Nixon/HS8uXAoC">Richard Nixon</a>.
After retiring from NASA and the Air Force in 1970, Borman became senior vice president for operations at <a href="/facts/Eastern_Air_Lines/NgcgLNjN">Eastern Air Lines</a>. He became chief executive officer of Eastern in 1975, and <a href="/facts/Chairman_of_the_board/RS6EemFF">chairman of the board</a> in 1976. Under his leadership, Eastern went through the four most profitable years in its history, but <a href="/facts/Airline_deregulation/MfQIhSgW">airline deregulation</a> and the additional debt that it took on to purchase new aircraft led to pay cuts and layoffs, and ultimately to conflict with unions, resulting in his resignation in 1986. He moved to <a href="/facts/Las_Cruces%2c_New_Mexico/0lGd629J">Las Cruces, New Mexico</a>, where he ran a <a href="/facts/Ford_Motor_Company/lY6Wcwty">Ford</a> dealership with his son, Fred. In 1998, they bought a cattle ranch in <a href="/facts/Bighorn%2c_Montana/WNCehs7V">Bighorn, Montana</a>.

Frank Borman open-in-new

Frank Borman