Frank Borman, who died last Tuesday at the age of 95, had a long and storied career. He graduated from West Point and served a dozen years in the Air Force before joining the astronaut corps in 1962.
Borman served as the sole astronaut member of the review board after the disastrous Apollo 1 launch fire that claimed the lives of three astronauts and insisted on critical changes that helped put the “race to the Moon” back on track. Following his stint in the astronaut corps, he became CEO of Eastern Air Lines for more than a decade.
But one event above all earned Frank Borman his place in history.
On Christmas Eve 55 years ago, he participated in not just one of the world’s most-watched broadcasts, but one of the most memorable. And amid the turmoil that plagues our country and world today, nearly three scores later, the spirit of that moment remains inspiring and provides a sense of priority and purpose.
Begin at the Beginning
“Say something appropriate.”
This was the only guidance that NASA official Julian Scheer gave Borman upon telling him that his crew’s Christmas Eve broadcast from lunar orbit would probably have the largest television audience in human history.
Borman originally didn’t want to bring cameras on board his Apollo 8 spacecraft, thinking it a distraction from the mission. But as he later observed, he “was overruled, rightfully so, because after all, the American people deserved to see what they were getting for
