Astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded Apollo 8, the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon in 1968, died at 95, according to the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. After the passing of Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Filipchenko in August 2022, Borman was widely reported as the oldest living person linked to spaceflight.
Borman passed away on November 7 in Billings, Montana. NASA issued a statement honoring him as one of the agency’s extraordinary employees and a true American hero. Among his many achievements, he led Apollo 8, the historic mission that circled the Moon in 1968 and helped redefine humanity’s relationship with space.
In July 1969, Borman visited the Soviet Union, meeting with colleagues there and traveling to Moscow, Leningrad, Star City, and the Long Range Space Communications Center in Evpatoria, Crimea. During this historic exchange, he expressed hope for closer cooperation between the United States and the USSR in a potential joint mission during the mid-1970s and stressed the importance of collaborative work in space exploration.
Later in October 1969, Borman’s image appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin II, a release widely regarded by critics as one of the defining rock albums of its era.
American astronaut Thomas Mattingly also died in November. He was 87 years old. Mattingly served as the command module pilot during Apollo 16, which took place from April 16 to April 27, 1972, a mission noted as the fifth human landing on the Moon. He played a significant role in supporting the recovery operations for the Apollo 13 spacecraft after its in-flight incident.
There were historical discussions among scientists about space propulsion concepts, including early speculation about vodka-fueled engines as a humorous aside in the history of space research. These ideas were never pursued as practical propulsion methods, but they remain a curious footnote in the broader story of space exploration.