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NASA's oldest living astronaut and Indiana native dies at 95
NASA's oldest living astronaut, a Gary native, died this week at the age of 95. Locally, if you don't know his story, you know his name.
GARY, Ind. - NASA's oldest living astronaut, a Gary native, died this week at the age of 95.
Locally, if you don't know his story, you know his name.
The Frank Borman Expressway, I-80/94 in Lake County, Indiana, runs through his birth town.
Frank Borman commanded two early NASA missions, including Apollo 8 — the first to orbit the moon.
After that, he led the team that re-engineered the Apollo capsule. It landed on the moon in 1969.
From NASA, Borman joined Eastern Airlines, eventually becoming its CEO.
"Frank Borman was quoted as saying that he was the commander of Apollo 8 and he wanted to make sure that they didn't mess up. He didn't want to be that guy, but he was also very proud that it was his mission, his flight, that beat the Soviet Union to the moon," said Kris McCall, Triton College Cernan Earth and Space Center Director.
Borman is also notable for the famous Earthrise photo that he took showing the earth rising above the moon.