Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman died
The US astronaut and commander of the Apollo 8 mission Frank Borman is dead. Borman died on Tuesday in the US state of Montana at the age of 95, the space agency Nasa announced on Thursday (local time). "Today we remember one of Nasa's best. Astronaut Frank Borman was a true American hero," said Nasa Director Bill Nelson. As Apollo 8 commander, the astronaut led the first manned mission around the moon in 1968 and paved the way for the moon landing a few months later.Born in the US state of Indiana, Borman developed a passion for airplanes at the age of 15, which eventually led him to the Air Force and later to Nasa. From 1950 onwards, he was a fighter pilot and later an assistant professor of thermodynamics at West Point Military Academy. In 1967, he was a member of a board of inquiry that investigated the Apollo spacecraft fire that killed three astronauts.
He was later appointed head of the Apollo program and led the team that redesigned the Apollo spacecraft. After retiring from the Air Force in 1970, Borman became a consultant to the airline Eastern before holding various senior positions there, including becoming its president. Bormann also served as a special ambassador for the US President.
He received numerous awards, including the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. In 1990, Borman was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame and in 1993 into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. Borman was married and had two sons and four grandchildren.
People mourned the death of space travel pioneer Frank Borman, who led the Apollo 8 mission as its commander. This mission marked the first time humans circled the moon and paved the way for future space travel, including lunar landings. Nasa astronaut Frank Borman's impact on space exploration was significant, and his death at the age of 95 brought an end to a life dedicated to the advancement of human space travel, as announced by Nasa Director Bill Nelson.
Source: www.dpa.com
