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Borman, Frank Frederick II
Borman
Borman
Credit: www.spacefacts.de
American test pilot astronaut 1962-1970. Member of first crew to rendezvous in space, and first to orbit the moon.

Status: Inactive; Active 1962-1970. Born: 1928-03-14. Spaceflights: 2 . Total time in space: 19.90 days. Birth Place: Gary, Indiana.

Official NASA Biography as of June 2016:Frank Borman
NASA Astronaut (former)

A hero of the American Space Odyssey, Frank Borman led the first team of American astronauts to circle the moon, extending man's horizons into space. He is internationally known as Commander of the 1968 Apollo 8 Mission. A romance with airplanes that began when he was 15 years old, took Frank Borman to the Air Force and then to NASA.

A career Air Force officer from 1950, his assignments included service as a fighter pilot, an operational pilot and instructor, an experimental test pilot and an assistant professor of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics at West Point. When selected by NASA, Frank Borman was instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California.

In 1967 he served as a member of the Apollo 204 Fire Investigation Board, investigating the causes of the fire which killed three astronauts aboard an Apollo spacecraft, reminiscent of the Challenger tragedy. Later he became the Apollo Program Resident Manager, heading the team that re-engineered the Apollo spacecraft. He also served as Field Director of NASA's Space Station Task Force.

Frank Borman retired from the air Force in 1970, but is well remembered as a part of this nation's history, a pioneer in the exploration of space and a veteran of both the Gemini 7, 1965 Space Orbital Rendezvous with Gemini 6 and the first manned lunar orbital mission, Apollo 8, in 1968.

Borman's retirement from the Air Force in 1970 did not end his aviation career. He became a special advisor to Eastern Airlines in early 1969 and in December 1970 was named Sr. Vice President-Operations Group.

He was promoted to Executive Vice President-Genera Operations Manager and was elected to Eastern's Board of Directors in July 1974. In May 1975 he was elected President and Chief Operating Officer. He was named Chief Executive Officer in December 1975 and became Chairman of the Board in December 1976.

During his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Eastern, the airline industry went through an enormous change caused by deregulation. During this period Eastern originated several unique programs including profit sharing and wages tied to company profitability. These programs produced the four most profitable years in the company's history. A recalcitrant union forced their abandonment in 1983 and the resulting loses led to the sale of the airline to Texas Air Corporation. Colonel Borman retired from Eastern Airlines in June of 1986.

Colonel Borman was privileged to serve as Special Presidential Ambassador on trips throughout the Far East and Europe, including a worldwide tour to seek support for the release of American Prisoners of war held by North Vietnam.

He received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from the President of the United States. Colonel Borman also was awarded the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the Tony Jannus Award and the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal--in addition to many honorary degrees, special honors and service decorations. More recently, in September of 1990, Colonel Borman along with fellow Apollo 8 astronauts, Lovell and Anders, was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame. And in October of 1990 received the Airport Operators Council International Downes Award. In March 1993, he was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Frank Borman was born in Gary, Indiana, and was raised in Tucson, Arizona. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, in 1950 and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1957. He completed the Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program in 1970.

Frank Borman is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Home Depot, National Geographic, Outboard Marine Corporation, Auto Finance Group, Thermo Instrument Systems and American Superconductor. He was named Chief Executive Office of Patlex Corporation in the spring of 1988, and presently holds the titles of Chairman, CEO and President of that Corporation. He has written an autobiography entitled Countdown: An Autobiography  of Frank Borman with Robert J. Serling, released October of 1988 and published by Silver Arrow Books, William Morrow and Company, Inc.

He is married to the former Susan Bugbee of Tucson, Arizona. They have two sons, Frederick and Edwin, and four grandchildren. Frank and Susan presently reside in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

DECEMBER 1993

This is the only version available from NASA. Updates must be sought direct from the above named individual.

Official Biography

NAME: Frank Borman

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Borman was born in Gary, Indiana, on March 14, 1928.

EDUCATION: Borman received a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, in 1950 and a Master of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1957. He completed the Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program in 1970.

EXPERIENCE: Borman was a career Air Force office from 1950 to 1970, when he retired with the rank of colonel. He served as a fighter pilot in the Philippines, as an operational pilot and instructor with various squadrons in the United States, as an assistant professor of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics at West Point and as an experimental test pilot at the USAF Aerospace Pilot School.

NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1962. In December 1965, he and Jim Lovell spent a record 14 days in orbit aboard Gemini 7. During the flight, Gemini 6 astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford were launched and executed the first space rendezvous, with the two spacecraft manoeuvring to less than a metre of one another.

After being assigned Apollo 8, Deke Slayton offered Borman and his crew the first Lunar Landing, instead of Armstrong and Aldrin, but Borman turned him down. A last minute decision was made to send Apollo 8, only the second manned Apollo flight, into lunar orbit in order to beat the Russians. On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Borman, Lovell, and Anders became the first humans to reach escape velocity as their Saturn V put them on a trans-lunar trajectory. Early on Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 command-service module braked into lunar orbit. In an unforgettable Christmas message to the world, Borman, Lovell and Anders read the story of creation from the first ten verses of the Bible's Book of Genesis, while sending a vivid televised image of the stark lunar surface rolling by below. On Christmas Day, Apollo 8's engines pushed the crew out of lunar orbit and back toward Earth to a landing in the Pacific Ocean.

After the flight Borman left NASA and the Air Force for an equally successful and much more lucrative career in business. From 1969 he served Eastern Airlines as a special adviser, and a year later he was named Vice President-Operations Group. He worked his way up the corporate ladder and by 1975 was President and Chief Operating Officer, becoming Chief Executive Officer later that year, and Chairman of the Board in 1976. He resigned from Eastern in 1986. Later he was an official of the Patlex Corporation.



More at: Borman.

Family: Astronaut. Country: USA. Spacecraft: Gemini. Flights: Gemini 4, Gemini 7, Apollo 205, Apollo 503, Apollo 8. Projects: Apollo. Agency: USAF. Bibliography: 5188.

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1965 June 3 - . 15:16 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC19. LV Family: Titan. Launch Vehicle: Titan II GLV.
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