Borman, Frank

Frank Borman, (born March 14, 1928, Gary, Indiana, U.S.), U.S. astronaut who, in Apollo 8 with James A. Lovell and William A. Anders in December 1968, made the first crewed flight around the Moon. The astronauts remained in an orbit about 112 km (70 miles) above the surface of the Moon for about 20 hours, transmitting television pictures back to Earth and verifying that lunar landmarks could be used for navigation to lunar landing sites. Three years earlier Borman and Lovell had made the Gemini 7 endurance flight in which they remained in space for 330 hours 35 minutes. Borman and Lovell also performed the first space rendezvous, coming within a few feet of Gemini 6.

Borman graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, in 1950, was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force, and served with the 44th Fighter Bomber Squadron in the Philippines between 1951 and 1956. He subsequently taught at the Air Force Fighter Weapons School. After taking his master’s degree in aeronautical engineering (1957) at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Borman taught at West Point and at the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilots School. In 1962 he was chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to be a member of the second group of astronauts. After the Apollo 8 flight he became deputy director of flight crew operations for NASA.

In July 1970 Borman resigned from NASA and became a company executive of Eastern Air Lines. He was chief executive officer of Eastern from 1975 to 1986, and after Eastern’s sale to Texas Air Corporation he served as vice chairman of that company until 1991. He also was on the board of the laser company Patlex from 1988 to 1996.