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Frank Borman
Born
Frank Frederick Borman II

(1928-03-14) March 14, 1928 (age 96)
Gary, Indiana, U.S.
StatusRetired
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUSMA, B.S. 1950
Caltech, M.S. 1957
Occupation(s)Fighter pilot, test pilot, airline CEO
AwardsDistinguished Flying Cross
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit
Congressional Space Medal of Honor
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
NASA Exceptional Service Medal
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Rank Colonel, USAF
Time in space
19d 21h 35m
Selection1962 NASA Group 2
MissionsGemini 7, Apollo 8
Mission insignia
RetirementJuly 1, 1970

Frank Frederick Borman II (born March 14, 1928) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) colonel, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, businessman, rancher, and NASA astronaut. He was the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, and together with crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, became the first of 24 humans to do so, for which he was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. As of 2019, he is the oldest living former American astronaut, eleven days older than Lovell.

Four days before he graduated with the West Point class of 1950, in which he was ranked eighth out of 670, Borman was commissioned in the USAF. He qualified as a fighter pilot, and served in the Philippines. He earned a Master of Science degree at the California Institute of Technology in 1957, and then became an assistant professor of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics at West Point. In 1960, he was selected for Class 60-C at the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and qualified as a test pilot. On graduation, he was accepted as one of five students in the first class at the Aerospace Research Pilot School.

Borman was selected as NASA astronaut with the second group, known as the Next Nine, in 1962. In 1966, he set a fourteen-day spaceflight endurance record as commander of Gemini 7. He served on the NASA review board which investigated the Apollo 1 fire, and then flew to the Moon with Apollo 8 in December 1968. The mission is known for the Earthrise photograph taken by Anders of the Earth rising above the lunar horizon as the Command/Service Module orbited the Moon, and for the reading from Genesis that was broadcast to Earth from lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. During the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission, he was NASA liaison at the White House, where he viewed the launch on television with President Richard M. Nixon.

After retiring from NASA and the USAF in 1970, he became Senior Vice President for Operations at Eastern Air Lines. He became Chief Executive Officer of Eastern in 1975, and Chairman of the Board in 1976. Under his leadership, Eastern went through the four most profitable years in its history, but airline deregulation and additional debt that he took on to purchase new aircraft led to pay cuts and lay offs, and ultimately to conflict with unions, resulting in his resignation in 1986. He moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he ran a Ford dealership with his son, Fred. In 1998, they bought a cattle ranch in the Bighorn Mountains of southern Montana.

Early life and education

Frank Frederick Borman II was born on March 14, 1928, at 2162 West 11th Avenue in Gary, Indiana. A nearby stretch of Interstate 94 has been named the Frank Borman Expressway after him.[1] He is of German descent, the only child to parents Edwin Otto Borman and his wife Marjorie Ann née Pearce. He was named after his paternal grandfather. Because he suffered from numerous sinus and mastoids 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. His father bought a lease on a Mobil service station.[2]

Borman attended Sam Hughes Elementary School in Tucson, where he played soccer and baseball. His best friend was a neighbor, Wayne Crutchfield. He then went to Mansfield Junior High, where he tried out for the American football team. He was not good enough, so he formed his own team with some local boys, sponsored by a local jewellery store. He earned some money with a newspaper route, delivering copies of the Arizona Daily Star.[2]

After Mansfield, Borman went on to Tucson High School, where he was an honor student. Unlike the junior high schools in the area, the high school was racially integrated. He played quarterback on the junior varsity team, and then became the second-string quarterback on the varsity team. However, the first-string quarterback broke his arm during the first game, and was out for most of the season. Despite the fact that every one of the four forward passes he attempted was incomplete, the team went on to win the state championship. He also acquired a girlfriend, Susan Bugbee, a sophomore.[3]

After the United States entered World War II in 1941, his parents found work at a new Consolidated Vultee aircraft factory in Tucson.[2] His first ride in an airplane was when he was five years old.[2] He learned to fly at the age of 15,[4] taking lessons with a female instructor, Bobbie Kroll, at Gilpin Field. When he obtained his student pilot's licence, he joined a local flying club.[5]

As a West Point cadet

Borman also built model airplanes out of balsa wood. He was helping a friend build model planes when he mentioned to his friend's father that he wanted to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His parents did not have the money to send him to an out-of-state university, and neither the University of Arizona nor Arizona State University offered top-notch aeronautical engineering courses at that time. His football skills were insufficient to secure a sports scholarship, so he had volunteered to join the Army, with the aim of qualifying for college tuition under the G.I. Bill.[6]

His friend's father told him that he knew Richard F. Harless, who had a third alternative appointment open. Borman took the Army physical, and was told to report to Fort MacArthur on graduation from high school. He also sat the West Point entrance examination; the end of the war had changed attitudes towards joining the military, and the three nominees ahead of him all dropped out.[6]

On July 1, 1946, Borman entered West Point with the class of 1950.[7] It was a difficult year to enter. Many members of the class were older than he, and had seen active service in World War II. Hazing by the upperclassmen was common. Another challenge was learning how to swim. He tried out for the plebe football team, but his skills were insufficient to qualify even at that level. However, head coach Earl Blaik took him on as an assistant manager.[8] In his final year, Borman was a cadet captain, commanding his company, and manager of the varsity football team.[9]

Borman chose to be commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force (USAF) on June 2, 1950.[7] Before the United States Air Force Academy was built, the USAF was authorized to accept up to a quarter of each West Point graduating class.[10] In order that USAF officers from West Point had equal seniority with those graduating from the United States Naval Academy, the entire class were commissioned four days ahead of their graduation. Borman graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree on June 6, 1950, ranked eighth in his class of 670.[7]

Borman drove back to Tucson with his parents in his brand-new Oldsmobile 88 for the traditional sixty-day furlough after graduation. He had split up with Susan while he was at West Point. She had earned a dental hygiene degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and was planning to commence a liberal arts degree at the University of Arizona. He proposed to her, and she accepted. They were married on July 20, 1950, at St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church in Tucson. His boyhood friend Wayne Crutchfield was his best man.[11]

Air Force

After a brief honeymoon in Phoenix, Arizona, Borman reported to Perrin Air Force Base in Texas for basic flight training in a North American T-6 Texan in August 1950. The top students in the class had the privilege of choosing which branch of flying they would pursue; Borman elected to become a fighter pilot.[12] He was therefore sent to Williams Air Force Base, near Phoenix, in February 1951 for advanced training,[13] initially in the North American T-28 Trojan, and then the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter. Fighter pilots were being sent to Korea, where the Korean War had broken out the year before. He asked for, and was assigned to, Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix—Susan was eight months pregnant—but at the last minute his orders were changed to Nellis Air Force Base. There, he practised aerial bombing and gunnery. His first child, a son called Frederick Pearce, was born there in October. Borman received his pilot wings on December 4, 1951.[14]

Soon after, Borman suffered a perforated eardrum while practising dive bombing with a bad head cold. His orders were changed; instead of going to Korea, he was ordered to report to Camp Stoneman, from whence he boarded a troop transport, the USNS Fred C. Ainsworth on December 20, 1951, bound for the Philippines. Susan sold the Oldsmobile to buy air tickets to join him. He was assigned to the 44th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which was based at Clark Air Base, and commanded by Major Charles McGee, a veteran fighter pilot. Initially, Borman was restricted to non-flying duties due to his eardrum; although it had healed, the base doctors feared it would rupture again if he flew. He persuaded McGee to take him for flights in a T-6, and then a Lockheed T-33, the trainer version of the Shooting Star. This convinced the doctors, and Borman's flight status was restored on September 22, 1952.[15] His second son, Edwin Sloan, was born at Clark in July 1952.[16]

Borman returned to the United States, where he became a jet instrument flight instructor at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, mainly in the T-33. In 1955, he secured a transfer to Luke Air Force Base. Most of his flying was on F-80s, F-84s, swept wing F-84Fs and T-33s.[17] In 1956, he received orders to join the faculty at West Point, after first completing a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. Not wanting to spend two years qualifying for a non-flying posting that could last for another three years, he searched for a master's degree course that took only one year, and settled on the one at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in June 1957,[18] and then became an assistant professor of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics at West Point, where he served until 1960.[19] He found he enjoyed teaching, and was still able to fly a T-33 from Stewart Air Force Base on weekends.[18] One summer he also attended the USAF Survival School at Stead Air Force Base in Nevada.[20]

In June 1960, Borman was selected for Class 60-C at the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and became a test pilot. His class, which included Michael Collins and James B. Irwin, who later became astronauts, graduated on April 21, 1961.[21] Thomas P. Stafford, who also later became an astronaut, was one of the instructors.[22] On graduation, Borman was accepted as one of five students in the first class at the Aerospace Research Pilot School, a postgraduate school for test pilots to prepare them to become astronauts. Fellow members of the class included future astronaut Jim McDivitt.[23] Classes included a course on orbital mechanics at the University of Michigan, and there were zero-G flights in modified Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and Convair C-131 Samaritan aircraft. Borman introduced training with the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. It would be flown up to 70,000 feet (21,000 m), where the engine would cut out for lack of oxygen, and then coast up to 90,000 feet (27,000 m). This would be followed by a powerless descent, and restarting the engine on the way down. A pressure suit was required.[24]

On April 18, 1962, NASA formally announced that it was accepting applications for a new group of astronauts who would assist the Mercury Seven astronauts selected in 1959 with Project Mercury, and join them in flying Project Gemini missions.[25] The USAF conducted its own internal selection process, and submitted the names of eleven candidates.[26] It ran them through a brief training course in May 1962 on how to speak and conduct themselves during the NASA selection process. The candidates called it a "charm school".[27] Borman's selection as one of the Next Nine was publicly announced on September 17, 1962.[28] Chuck Yeager, the commandant of the Test Pilot School at Edwards, told him that he could kiss his Air Force career goodbye.[29] During his Air Force service, Borman logged 3,600 hours of flying time, of which 3,000 was in jet aircraft.[20]

NASA

Borman moved with his family to Houston, Texas, where the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) was still being established, and signed his first house-building contract, for $26,500 (equivalent to $267,000 in 2023).[30] Following the precedent set by the Mercury Seven, each of the Nine was assigned a special area in which to develop expertise that could be shared with the others, and to provide astronaut input to the designers and engineers.[31] Borman's assignment was the Titan II booster used by Project Gemini, although he had no experience in that area.[32] The assignment involved many trips to the Martin Marietta plants in Denver, Colorado, and Baltimore, Maryland, where the Titan IIs were built. His responsibility included the Emergency Detection System (EDS) developed for an abort situation. Borman agreed with Wernher von Braun that reliance would have to be placed on automated systems in situations where human reaction time would not be fast enough. This was much to the consternation of old hands like Warren J. North,[33] the NASA Chief of the Flight Crew Support Division,[34] who did not accept the notion that an automated system was superior to the skill of a human being.[33]

There was also classroom work. Initially, each of the astronauts was given four months of classroom instruction on subjects such as spacecraft propulsion, orbital mechanics, astronomy, computing, and space medicine. There was also familiarization with the Gemini spacecraft, Titan II and Atlas boosters, and the Agena target vehicle.[35] Jungle survival training was conducted at the USAF Tropic Survival School at Albrook Air Force Station in Panama, desert survival training at Stead Air Force Base in Nevada, and water survival training on the Dilbert Dunker at the USN school at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and on Galveston Bay.[36] There was fifty hours of geology, with field trips to the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater in Arizona. Borman thought it was a waste of time.[37] "I didn't care about picking up rocks," he later told an interviewer, "I wanted to beat the Soviets to the Moon".[38]

Project Gemini

Main article: Gemini 7
Borman (right) is joined for breakfast before the Gemini 7 mission by fellow astronauts

When the Chief of the Flight Crew Operations, Mercury Seven astronaut Donald Slayton, drew up a tentative schedule of Project Gemini flights, he assigned Mercury Seven astronaut Alan Shepard command of the first manned flight, Gemini 3, with Next Nine astronaut Tom Stafford as his co-pilot. Mercury Seven astronaut Gus Grissom would command the backup crew, with Borman as his co-pilot. Under the crew rotation system Slayton devised, the backup crew of one mission would become the prime of the third mission after. Borman would therefore become the co-pilot of Gemini 6, which was planned as a long-duration fourteen-day mission.[39]

An Apollo mission to the Moon was expected to take at least a week,[40] so one of the objectives of Project Gemini was to test the ability of the crew and spacecraft components to operate in space for that length of time.[41] When Shepard was grounded in October 1963, Grissom and Borman became the prime crew of Gemini 3.[39] Grissom invited Borman around to his house to talk to him about the mission, and after a long discussion, decided that he could not work with Borman.[32] According to Gene Cernan, "the egos of Grissom and Borman were too big to fit into a single spacecraft".[42] Slayton therefore replaced Borman with John Young.[39]

Slayton still wanted Borman for the two-week flight, which had now slipped to Gemini 7, so Borman was assigned as backup commander of Gemini 4, with Jim Lovell as his co-pilot.[39] This was officially announced on July 27, 1964,[43] and their assignment to Gemini 7 followed on July 1, 1965, with Ed White and Michael Collins as their backups.[44] Borman was one of four of the Nine chosen to command their first Gemini missions, the others being McDivitt, Neil Armstrong, and Elliot See,[45] although See was killed in a jet crash three months before his mission.[46] Prime and backup crews trained for the mission together, and Borman found the experience as a backup valuable, amounting to a dress rehearsal of their own mission.[47]

Gemini 7, as seen from Gemini 6

That Gemini 7 would last for fourteen days was known from the beginning, and gave Borman time to prepare. To keep fit, he and Lovell jogged 2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.8 km) a day, and played handball after work. They visited the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St Louis, Missouri, where their spacecraft was built. At 8,076 pounds (3,663 kg), it was 250 pounds (110 kg) heavier than any previous Gemini spacecraft.[47] Special procedures were developed for the stowage of consumables and garbage. A lightweight space suit was developed to make the astronauts more comfortable.[48]

A major change affecting the mission occurred when the Agena target vehicle for Gemini 6 suffered a catastrophic failure. This mission was intended to practice orbital rendezvous, and requirement of Project Apollo and therefore an objective of Project Gemini. Borman was at the Kennedy Space Center to observe the launch of Gemini 6, and heard two McDonnell officials, two McDonnell officials, spacecraft chief Walter Burke and his deputy, John Yardley, discuss the possibility of using Gemini 7 as a rendezvous target. Borman rejected the idea of docking the two spacecraft, but otherwise thought the idea had merit.[49]

After some discussion about how it could be accomplished, it was approved. The 6555th Aerospace Test Wing dismantled Gemini 6 and assembled Gemini 7 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 19. Gemini 7 was launched at 14:30 on December 6, 1965.[50] The race was then on to launch Gemini 6 with Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford on board, which was accomplished at 08:37 on December 15.[51] Gemini 6 completed the rendezvous with Gemini 7 at 14:33. The two craft came within 30 centimetres (12 in) of each other.[52] At one point Schirra held up a sign in the window for Borman to read that said: "Beat Army". Schirra, Stafford and Lovell were all United States Naval Academy graduates; Borman was outnumbered.[53]

Borman and Lovell arrive on the recovery vessel, the aircraft carrier USS Wasp

When Schirra and Stafford pulled away and returned to Earth, Borman and Lovell still had three days to go, in a space the size of the front seat of a small car. Borman began hoping that something would go wrong and excuse an early return. Finally, on December 18, it was time to return. The two astronauts were pumped up with the help of dexedrine. The re-entry was accomplished flawlessly, and the Gemini 7 spacecraft splashed down down 6.4 miles (10.3 km) from the recovery vessel, the aircraft carrier USS Wasp. Borman had never been on an aircraft carrier before, and was awed by its size.[54] Borman was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for this mission,[55] and was promoted to colonel. At 37, he was the youngest full colonel in the Air Force.[56]

Project Apollo

Apollo 1

Main article: Apollo 1

In planning for Project Apollo, Slayton designated new crews under the command of the experienced astronauts who commanded the early Gemini missions. On missions with a lunar module, the Senior Pilot (later known as the Command Module Pilot) would also be an experienced astronaut, as he would have to fly the command module solo. Borman was given the assignment of backup for the second mission, an Earth-orbital mission without a lunar module. He would then command the fourth, a medium Earth orbit mission with a lunar module. He was given Charles Bassett for a senior pilot and Bill Anders as the pilot (later known as the Lunar Module Pilot);[57][58] Bassett was expected to fly on Gemini 9, but he died in the air crash that also killed See.[45] Borman was then given Stafford as senior pilot and Collins as pilot.[59] Subsequently, Stafford was given his own crew, and Anders was reassigned to Borman's crew. As Collins had spaceflight experience on Gemini 10, he became the senior pilot.[60] The second mission was scrubbed, but Borman's remained unchanged, although now it was to be the third mission, and he had no backup responsibility.[57][58] The crew selection was officially announced in a NASA press release on December 22, 1966.[61]

The charred remains of the Apollo 1 cabin interior

On January 27, 1967, the crew of the first manned Apollo mission (Apollo 1 – then designated AS-204), Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee were killed in a fire aboard their command module. Following this deadly accident, the AS-204 Accident Review Board was charged with investigating the root causes of the fire and recommending corrective measures. Borman was chosen as the only astronaut to serve on the nine-member review board. He inspected the burnt-out command module and verified the positions of the switches and circuit breakers.[62] In April 1967, while serving on the board, Borman was one of five astronauts who testified before the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate committees investigating the Apollo 1 fire (the others were Shepard, Schirra, Slayton and McDivitt). Borman faced tough and sometimes hostile questioning, especially from Donald Rumsfeld.[63][64] Borman's testimony helped convince Congress that Apollo would be safe to fly again.[65]

In the aftermath of the disaster, Joe Shea resigned as manager of the Apollo project. Robert Gilruth, the director of the MSC, offered the position to Borman, who turned it down. The job was given to Gilruth's deputy, George Low. However, Borman did accept a temporary posting to the North American Aviation plant in Downey, California, where the command modules were made, in order to oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the AS-204 Accident Review Board. Borman was forced to confront one of the root causes of the disaster: the natural tension between getting the job done on time and building the spacecraft as well as possible. It involved arguments with test pilot Scott Crossfield, and fellow astronauts like John Young. A redesigned hatch that allowed the astronauts to exit within seconds instead of minutes added 1,500 pounds (680 kg) to the weight of the spacecraft. Testing the parachutes that had to be redesigned ensure that they could hold the additional weight cost $250,000, and led to a clash with George Mueller, who thought the cost was excessive.[66]

Apollo 8

Main article: Apollo 8
Borman prepares for Apollo 8 on launch day

Borman's medium Earth orbit lunar module test mission was now planned as Apollo 9, and tentatively scheduled for early 1969, after a low Earth orbit one commanded by McDivitt in December 1968. The crew assignments were officially announced on November 20, 1967,[67] but in July 1968 Collins suffered a cervical disc herniation that required surgery to repair. He was replaced by Lovell in July 1968, reuniting Borman with his Gemini 7 crewmate.[68] When Apollo 8's LM-3 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in June 1968, over 100 significant defects were discovered, leading Gilruth to conclude that there was no prospect of LM-3 being ready to fly in 1968.[69]

In August 1968, in response to a report from the CIA that the Soviets were considering a lunar fly-by before the end of the year,[70] Low proposed a bold solution to keep the Apollo program on track. Since the next Command/Service Module (CSM) (designated as "CSM-103") would be ready three months before LM-3, a CSM-only mission could be flown in December 1968. Instead of repeating the flight of Apollo 7, it could be sent all the way to the Moon, entering a lunar orbit before returning to Earth. This also meant that the medium Earth orbit mission could be dispensed with, keeping to the schedule for a lunar landing in mid-1969.[71] With the change in mission for Apollo 8, Slayton asked McDivitt if he still wanted to fly it. McDivitt turned it down; his crew had spent a great deal of time preparing to test the LM, and that was what he still wanted to do.[72] When Borman was asked the same question, he answered "yes" without any hesitation.[70] Slayton then decided to swap the crews and spacecraft of the Apollo 8 and 9 missions.[72][73]

Earthrise, taken on December 24, 1968, by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders.

Apollo 8 was launched at 12:51:00 UTC (07:51:00 Eastern Standard Time) on December 21, 1968.[74] On the second day Borman awoke feeling ill. He vomited twice and had a bout of diarrhea; this left the spacecraft full of small globules of vomit and feces, which the crew cleaned up as well as they could. Borman did not want anyone to know about his medical problems, but Lovell and Anders wanted to inform Mission Control.[75] The Apollo 8 crew and Mission Control medical personnel concluded that there was little to worry about and that Borman's illness was either a 24-hour flu, as Borman thought, or an adverse reaction to a sleeping pill.[76] Researchers now believe that he was suffering from space adaptation syndrome, which affects about a third of astronauts during their first day in space as their vestibular system adapts to weightlessness.[77] Space adaptation syndrome had not occurred on Mercury and Gemini missions because those astronauts could not move freely in the small cabins of those spacecraft. The increased cabin space in the Apollo command module afforded astronauts greater freedom of movement, contributing to symptoms of space sickness.[78]

On December 24, Apollo 8 went into lunar orbit. The crew made ten orbits of the Moon in 20 hours before returning to Earth. The mission is known for the Earthrise photograph taken by Bill Anders of the Earth rising above the lunar horizon as the command module orbited the Moon, and for the reading from Genesis that was broadcast to Earth from lunar orbit.[79][80] About six weeks before the launch, NASA's deputy director for public affairs, Julian Scheer, had told Borman that a television broadcast was scheduled for this time, and suggested that they find something appropriate to say. Borman had consulted with Simon Bourgin, who worked at the United States Information Agency, and had accompanied Borman and Lovell on a goodwill tour of the Far East after the Gemini 7 mission. Bourgin, in turn, consulted Joe Laitin, a former United Press International reporter, who suggested that the Apollo 8 crew read from the Book of Genesis. The text was transcribed onto fireproof paper for the broadcast.[81][82] "One of the things that was truly historic," Borman later joked, "was that we got that good Catholic Bill Anders to read from the King James Version of the bible."[83]

Borman addresses the crew of the USS Yorktown after a successful splashdown and recovery

The Apollo 8 spacecraft splashed down in darkness on Friday, December 27.[84] Borman had argued for this; a daylight landing would have required orbiting the Moon at least twelve times, and Borman did not think this was necessary.[85] When the spacecraft hit the water, Borman did not flick the switch to release the parachutes quickly enough. They dragged the spacecraft over and left it upside down. In this position, the flashing light beacon could not be seen by the recovery helicopters. Borman inflated the bags in the nose of the spacecraft, which then righted itself. Mission ground rules required a daylight recovery, so the crew had to wait 45 minutes for the frogmen to open the hatches.[84] Borman became seasick and threw up, and was glad to be on board the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.[86]

Apollo 8 came at the end of 1968, a year that had seen much upheaval in the United States and most of the world.[87] Even though the year saw political assassinations, political unrest in the streets of Europe and America, and the Prague Spring, Time magazine chose the crew of Apollo 8 as its Men of the Year for 1968, recognizing them as the people who most influenced events in the preceding year.[87] They had been the first people ever to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth and orbit another celestial body.[88] They had survived a mission that even the crew themselves had rated as having only a fifty-fifty chance of fully succeeding. The effect of Apollo 8 was summed up in a telegram from a stranger, received by Borman after the mission, that stated simply, "Thank you Apollo 8. You saved 1968."[89]

The crew were accorded ticker tape parades in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., where they were awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, which was presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson.[90] Borman was also awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal.[91] Afterwards, Borman was sent on a goodwill tour of Europe, with a secondary objective of finding out more about the space programs of NATO countries. He was accompanied by Bourgin and Nicholas Ruwe, the assistant chief of protocol at the State Department. Borman met with Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and a teenage Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace in the UK, with President Charles de Gaulle in France, Pope Paul VI in Rome, and King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium.[92]

Apollo 11

Main article: Apollo 11

Space journalist Andrew Chaikin claims that, following the death of Gus Grissom, Borman became Slayton's choice to command the first Moon landing attempt. In the fall of 1968, Slayton offered command of the first landing to Borman, who turned it down.[93] Long before Apollo 8 lifted off, Borman decided that it would be his last flight, and that he would retire in 1970.[90] After twenty years' service in the Air Force, he would qualify for a pension.[94] Borman told an interviewer in 1999 that "my reason for joining NASA was to participate in the Apollo Program, the lunar program, and hopefully beat the Russians. I never looked at it for any individual goals. I never wanted to be the first person on the Moon or I and frankly, as far as I was concerned, when Apollo 11 was over the mission was over. The rest was frosting on the cake."[32]

For the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission in July 1969, Borman was assigned to liaise with President Richard M. Nixon at the White House. He viewed the launch from the President's office.[95] Nixon initially had a long speech prepared to read to the astronauts on the Moon during a phone call, but Borman persuaded him to keep his words brief and non-partisan. He also convinced the President to omit the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, which would have required the astronauts to waste two and a half minutes of their time on the surface standing still.[96] He accompanied the President in Marine One, when it flew to the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to meet the crew of Apollo 11 on their return.[97] In 1970, he undertook another special presidential mission, a worldwide tour to seek support for the release of American prisoners of war held by North Vietnam.[98] That year, he also completed the six-week Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.[4]

Borman retired from NASA and the U.S. Air Force in 1970 as a colonel.[4] For his services as an astronaut, the Air Force awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Legion of Merit.[91] On October 1, 1978, he was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.[99] He performed one more assignment for the military. In 1976, there was a major cheating scandal at West Point, and Borman was appointed to head a special commission to investigate and report to the Secretary of the Army.[100] His son Frederick, of the West Point class of 1974, was accused of taking a bribe. It was alleged that while a member of a cadet honor code board he had accepted a $1,200 payment in order to fix a case involving two cadets accused of cheating. Frederick was cleared of all charges after taking a polygraph test. Borman's younger son, Edwin, of the West Point class of 1975, was accused of improprieties, but there was no evidence to support the allegations, and they were dismissed.[101]

Eastern Airlines

Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 Tristar N310EA (193A-1011), which crashed in the Florida Everglades on December 29, 1972.

In early 1969, Borman became a special advisor to Eastern Air Lines and in December 1970 he was made Senior Vice President-Operations Group at the company,[102] and he moved to Miami.[103] On the evening of December 29, 1972, Borman received a phone call informing him that Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 had disappeared off the radar near Florida's Everglades. He took a helicopter to the crash site, which was able to land in the darkness 150 yards (140 m) away. Borman waded waist-deep through the murky swamp, helping rescue crash victims and loading survivors into rescue helicopters.[104]

The accident put the spotlight on the airline's Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft, which suffered from maintenance problems, particularly with the turbine blades of the Rolls-Royce RB211 engine. This made it difficult to fly them at a profit. The airline also had 25 Boeing 727-100QC aircraft capable of being quickly changed from passenger to cargo aircraft. These weighed more than the airline's standard 727-100s, and therefore consumed more fuel, which made them only marginally profitable when fuel process were low,[105] but jet fuel prices quadrupled in the 1970s.[103] Eastern also spent $200,000 on a down payment for two Concordes, although it had no suitable routes to fly them on.[106]

Borman was promoted to Executive Vice President-General Operations Manager and was elected to Eastern's Board of Directors in July 1974. In May 1975, Borman was elected President and Chief Operating Officer. He was named Chief Executive Officer of Eastern in December 1975, and became Chairman of the Board in December 1976.[102] As at North American, he disliked aspects of American corporate culture, such as plush offices, Cadillacs and Mercedes company cars and a Lockheed JetStar corporate jet for executives, while firing or furloughing employees.[103][106] After Borman became Eastern's CEO, he saved the company $9 million annually in salaries by firing 81 middle managers and 31 vice presidents. He drove to work in a second-hand Chevrolet Camaro with an engine he rebuilt himself. He sold the corporate jet, and, as at North American, banned drinking on company time, which he considered also included lunch time. The end of the three-martini lunch came as a shock to many executives.[103]

Eastern had not turned a profit since 1959.[103] To reduce costs, Borman convinced employees to accept a wage freeze in 1976, with an 8 percent raise in 1977, and then a five-year Variable Earnings Program (VEP). Under the VEP, employees contributed 3.5 percent of their annual salaries to a special profit insurance fund. If Eastern did not achieve a 2 percent return on each revenue dollar, the fund was used to make up the difference. If the company did earn more than 2 percent, the excess money was returned to the employees, who could earn back up to twice their contributions.[107] To get his changes through, Borman visited the airline's facilities in 28 states to bring his proposals to his employees.[103]

With the VEP in hand, Borman was able to refinance the debt on the company's 254 aircraft.[107] Profits jumped to a record $67.3 million in 1978,[103] and Eastern went through the four most profitable years in its history.[102] During this time, the employees received double their VER payments.[107] Borman ordered $1.4 billion worth of new, more fuel efficient aircraft, and the company's debt ballooned to $2.3 billion.[103] Over the next six years, Eastern ran at a loss, partly due to the debt, and partly due to airline deregulation in 1978, which caused the number of airlines in the United States to increase from 30 to nearly 100.[103] Some of the newcomers offered unprofitable and unsustainable low prices in order to gain market share. In just the first three quarters of 1984, Eastern lost $128 million. Borman negotiated an agreement with the Airline Pilots' Association (ALPA) for a 22 percent pay cut, while the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) (representing the flight attendants) accepted an 18 percent cut. Employees were nominally compensated with grants of company stock, but its value declined from $60 a share in 1966 to $6 a share in 1983.[108]

Eastern posted a profit of $6.3 million on gross revenues of $4 billion in 1984, but this was not enough to satisfy the creditors, who demanded a 2 percent profit.[103] Borman laid off 1,000 flight attendants and cut the pay of 6,000 more by over 20 percent. He also slashed the pay of executives and middle managers by 20 to 25 percent. He attempted to negotiate further cuts with the unions, threatening bankruptcy. The ALPA and TWU accepted, but the IAM did not. Over ten years, the three unions had given up $836 million in wages and benefits, and the company had little to show for it. Charlie Bryan, the head of the IAM, said that the union would accept the deal only if Borman resigned. In response, Eastern's board decided to sell the airline to Texas Air Corporation, headed by Frank Lorenzo. Borman resigned from Eastern in June 1986.[108] It was a personal defeat, but hardly a financial disaster; he received a severance payment of $900,000, and drew a consultant's fee of $150,000 a year from Texas Air until 1991.[103]

Retirement

Borman with Jim Lovell and Bill Anders in December 2008

Borman and Susan left Miami, and moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. For a time, he was the majority owner of a Las Cruces Ford dealership founded by his son, Fred.[103][109] He was a member of the boards of directors of Home Depot, National Geographic, Outboard Marine Corporation, Automotive Financial Group, Thermo Instrument Systems and American Superconductor. He became CEO of Patlex Corporation in 1988. That year, he published an autobiography, Countdown, co-written with Robert J. Serling.[102] Borman purchased a cattle ranch in the Bighorn Mountains of southern Montana in 1998, where he and his wife lived for nearly two decades, running 4,000 head of cattle on 160,000 acres (65,000 ha).[110][111] In addition to tending cattle, Borman continued his hobbies in rebuilding and modeling aircraft. He is a member of the Society of Antique Modelers (SAM).[112]

Following John Glenn's death in December 2016, Borman became the oldest living American astronaut. He is eleven days older than his Apollo 8 crewmate, Jim Lovell. Both celebrated their 90th birthdays in March 2018.[113] Borman gave the commencement address to the University of Arizona's 2008 graduating class,[114] and was reunited with Lovell and Anders for celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8 in December 2018 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where the spacecraft they orbited the Moon in is on display.[115] "I have never said it before publicly," declared Borman, "but these two talented guys, I'm just proud that I was able to fly with them. It was a tough job done in four months, and we did a good job."[115]

Awards and honors

Borman was one of ten Gemini astronauts inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1982.[128][4] He was also inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1982;[129] the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993;[130] and the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1990, and DeMolay International Hall of Fame.[131]

In media

In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Borman was played by David Andrews.[132] He appeared in the Discovery Channel documentary When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions,[133] and in the 2005 documentary "Race to the Moon", which was shown as part of the PBS American Experience series. The film, renamed in 2013 as "Earthrise: The First Lunar Voyage," centered on the events that led up to NASA's Apollo 8 mission.[134] On November 13, 2008, Borman and his fellow Apollo 8 crewmates, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, appeared on the NASA TV channel to discuss the Apollo 8 mission.[135] Borman was featured on Episode 655 of This American Life radio program titled The Not-So-Great Unknown, airing on August 24, 2018. His interview with David Kestenbaum in Act One of the episode titled So Over The Moon centered on his unconventional outlook towards space travel.[136][137]

Tributes

Notes

  1. ^ "What Borman Highway?". The Times. Munster, Indiana. July 10, 1969. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 13–15.
  3. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 20–23.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Commanded Apollo 8, first mission to circumnavigate the Moon". New Mexico Museum of Space History. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  5. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 19–20.
  6. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 24–25.
  7. ^ a b c Cullum 1950, p. 1572.
  8. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 27–30.
  9. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 35–36.
  10. ^ Mitchell 1996, pp. 60–61.
  11. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 38–39.
  12. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 42–43.
  13. ^ Cullum 1960, p. 571.
  14. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 45–48.
  15. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 48–53.
  16. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 56.
  17. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 62–65.
  18. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 66–68.
  19. ^ "Frank Borman, Colonel, USAF". NASA. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  20. ^ a b "MSC Names Nine New Pilot Trainees" (PDF). NASA Roundup. Vol. 1, no. 24. September 19, 1962. pp. 1, 4–5. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  21. ^ Eppley 1963, p. 26.
  22. ^ Eppley 1963, p. 17.
  23. ^ Butz 1963, pp. 56–57.
  24. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 79–83.
  25. ^ Burgess 2013, pp. 5–6.
  26. ^ Burgess 2013, pp. 10–11.
  27. ^ Stafford & Cassutt 2002, p. 36.
  28. ^ Burgess 2013, pp. 64–66.
  29. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 91.
  30. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 97.
  31. ^ Slayton & Cassutt 1994, p. 123.
  32. ^ a b c Harwood, Catherine (April 13, 1999). "Frank Borman Oral History". NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. NASA. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  33. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 98–100.
  34. ^ Slayton & Cassutt 1994, p. 142.
  35. ^ Burgess 2013, p. 165.
  36. ^ Burgess 2013, pp. 170–174.
  37. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 101.
  38. ^ Frank Borman Oral History Interview. C-SPAN. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  39. ^ a b c d Slayton & Cassutt 1994, pp. 137–138.
  40. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, p. 53.
  41. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 55–56.
  42. ^ Cernan & Davis 1999, p. 66.
  43. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 239–240.
  44. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, p. 265.
  45. ^ a b Hacker & Grimwood 2010, p. 533.
  46. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 323–324.
  47. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, p. 114.
  48. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 277–278.
  49. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 265–268.
  50. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, p. 280.
  51. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 282–286.
  52. ^ Hacker & Grimwood 2010, pp. 286–291.
  53. ^ "Astronauts to Visit Annapolis". Reading Eagle. October 12, 1966. p. 60. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  54. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 144–149.
  55. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 151.
  56. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 155.
  57. ^ a b Slayton & Cassutt 1994, pp. 182–184.
  58. ^ a b Shayler 2002, p. 116.
  59. ^ Ertel, Newkirk & Brooks 1978, pp. 40–41.
  60. ^ Ertel, Newkirk & Brooks 1978, p. 56.
  61. ^ Shayler 2002, p. 127.
  62. ^ Ertel, Newkirk & Brooks 1978, pp. 63–65.
  63. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 179–180.
  64. ^ "Apollo-1 Investigation". NASA. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  65. ^ Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson 1979, p. 224.
  66. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 181–187.
  67. ^ Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson 1979, p. 374.
  68. ^ Collins 2001, pp. 288–294.
  69. ^ Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson 1979, p. 256.
  70. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, p. 189.
  71. ^ Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson 1979, p. 257.
  72. ^ a b Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson 1979, p. 262.
  73. ^ Collins 2001, pp. 296–298.
  74. ^ Orloff 2000, p. 39.
  75. ^ Woods, W. David; O'Brien, Frank (April 22, 2006). "Day 2: Green Team". Apollo 8 Flight Journal. NASA. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  76. ^ Collins 2001, p. 306.
  77. ^ Quine, Tony (April 2007). "Addicted to space: An appreciation of Anousheh Ansari, Part II". Spaceflight. 49 (4). British Interplanetary Society: 144. ISSN 0038-6340.
  78. ^ Kozlovskaya, Inessa B; Bloomberg, Jacob J.; et al. (2004). "The Effects of Long-Duration Space Flight on Eye, Head, and Trunk Coordination During Locomotion". Life Sciences Data Archive. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. LSDA Exp ID: 9307191. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  79. ^ Williams, David R. (September 25, 2007). "The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast". NASA National Space Science Data Center.
  80. ^ Borman, Frank; Lovell, James; Anders, Bill (December 25, 1968). The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast (MOV) (Live broadcast). NASA National Space Science Data Center.
  81. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 194–195.
  82. ^ Watkins 2007, pp. 69–71.
  83. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 224.
  84. ^ a b Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson 1979, p. 284.
  85. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 192.
  86. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, p. 218.
  87. ^ a b "Nation: Men of the Year". Time. January 3, 1969. Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
  88. ^ "Apollo 8 Firsts". American Experience: Race to the Moon. Boston: PBS. September 22, 2005. Archived from the original on December 16, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  89. ^ Chaikin 1994, p. 134.
  90. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 222–223.
  91. ^ a b "Frank Borman – Recipient". Military Times Hall Of Valor. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  92. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 227–233.
  93. ^ Chaikin 1994, p. 128.
  94. ^ Slayton & Cassutt 1994, pp. 138–139.
  95. ^ "President Richard Nixon's Daily Diary" (PDF). Richard Nixon Presidential Library. July 16, 1969. p. 2. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  96. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 237–238.
  97. ^ Carmichael 2010, pp. 107–108, 145–146.
  98. ^ "U.S. Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia". Department of State Bulletin. 63 (1633): 405–408. October 12, 1970.
  99. ^ "Kennedy Space Center, Florida Remarks at the Congressional Space Medal of Honor Awards Ceremony". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  100. ^ "Report to the Secretary of the Army by the Special Commission on the United States Military Academy". West Point. December 15, 1976. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  101. ^ Illson, Murray (November 17, 1976). "Son of Astronaut Cleared of Charge". The New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  102. ^ a b c d "Frank Borman". NASA. Archived from the original on June 27, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; June 27, 2016 suggested (help)
  103. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Stiteler, Rowland (February 14, 1988). "Borman Astronaut in Exile". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  104. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 284–285.
  105. ^ Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 288–289.
  106. ^ a b Borman & Serling 1988, pp. 277–279.
  107. ^ a b c Jennings 1989, pp. 13–14.
  108. ^ a b Jennings 1989, pp. 14–15.
  109. ^ Diven, William (November 1992). "Auto dealers: sign of the times – The New Mexico Private 100". New Mexico Business Journal. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  110. ^ Rutherford, Burt (December 20, 2017). "Ranching by the numbers". Beef Magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  111. ^ Mintz, Martha Ostendorf (February 2011). "Healthier and Heavier with Hereford in the Mix". Hereford World. pp. 1, . Retrieved May 15, 2019.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  112. ^ a b "The AMA History Program Presents: Biography of Col. Frank Borman" (PDF). Academy of Model Aeronautics. July 2003. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  113. ^ "Borman & Lovell Celebrate 90th Birthdays". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  114. ^ "A New Beginning". University Communications. University of Arizona. May 18, 2008. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
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  116. ^ "Astronauts Names for Harmon Award". The New York Times. August 7, 1966. p. 83. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  117. ^ "Maj. Gentry Gets Harmon Trophy". The New York Times. September 8, 1969. p. 82. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  118. ^ "AF Major, 3 Astronauts Get Harmon". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. UPI. September 7, 1969. p. 67 – via Newspapers.com.
  119. ^ "Apollo 8 Wins Collier Trophy". Alabama Journal. Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press. May 9, 1969. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  120. ^ "Collier 1960–1969 Recipients". National Aeronautic Association. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  121. ^ "The Gen. Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy" (PDF). Air Force Magazine. May 1997. p. 156.
  122. ^ "Astronauts Anders, Borman and Lovell: 1968". Person of the Year: A Photo History. TIME. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  123. ^ "Paine Selected as NASA Chief". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. Associated Press. March 5, 1969. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  124. ^ Posen, Bob (June 30, 1969). "Scholar-Athletes Urged to 'Do Their Thing'". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. p. 52 – via Newspapers.com.
  125. ^ "Borman Wins Doolittle Award". The Naples Daily News. Naples, Florida. UPI. September 27, 1976. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  126. ^ "Downes Award – Past Winners". ACI-NA. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  127. ^ "NASA Honors Pioneer Astronaut Frank Borman". NASA. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  128. ^ Shay, Erin (October 3, 1982). "Astronauts Laud Gemini as Precursor to Shuttle". Albuquerque Journal. Albuquerque, New Mexico. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  129. ^ "National Aviation Hall of fame: Our Enshrinees". National Aviation Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  130. ^ "Frank Borman inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame". Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  131. ^ "Frank Borman". DeMolay International.
  132. ^ James, Caryn (April 3, 1998). "Television Review; Boyish Eyes on the Moon". The New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  133. ^ "When We Left Earth Full Cast and Crew". IMDb. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  134. ^ "American Experience, Race to the Moon, Full Cast and Crew". IMDb. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  135. ^ "NASA Television Commemorates Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast". NASA. December 22, 2008. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  136. ^ "This American Life (#655) The Not-So-Great Unknown: Act One". This American Life. August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  137. ^ "655: The Not-So-Great Unknown – This American Life". This American Life. August 25, 2018. Archived from the original on August 27, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  138. ^ "Frank Borman". Borman Expressway Reconstruction Project. Indiana Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on March 28, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  139. ^ "Homepage". Borman K-8 Elementary School. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  140. ^ "Homepage". Frank Borman School. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  141. ^ "Overview". Borman Elementary School. Denton ISD. Retrieved April 1, 2019.

References

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Preceded by Oldest Living American Astronaut
2016– 		Incumbent

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