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Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

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Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#101

Post by closewith »

unethical_ban wrote: post #26
aaronharnly wrote: post #20

I've been listening with my kid to the excellent BBC podcast "13 Minutes to the Moon"[1]. It does a great job describing both the astronauts' experience (including Frank Borman and Apollo 8) and the scale and speed of efforts on the ground. I highly recommend it. [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2

I listened to the first episode and it seemed to have what I call "Ted radio hour syndrome": an excess of quick cut audio, sound effects, and drawn out narration that had me, an enthusiast of manned spaceflight, bored. Maybe it was like season 1 of a TV show where you gotta give it a few shots. The book "A Man on the Moon" was quite well written though, and some day I may read "failure is not an option".

The Brady Heywood podcast had a great series on Apollo 13 that covered parts of the earlier missions. Unfortunately they "remastered" and rereleased it with the same awful pacing and music, but the originals are still available in the feed.

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#103

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

bryananderson wrote: post #86

Michael Collins—who was bumped from Apollo 8 due to a medical issue and of course ended up flying Apollo 11 instead—became increasingly convinced with time that it was Apollo 8, more so than 11, that represented the true landmark in human history. Apollo 11 was when we first arrived somewhere new, yes, but it was Apollo 8 when we first dared to venture out into the dark. For the first time we surrendered the ability…

Can't more emphatically recommend Collins' book. Having read my fair share of Apollo stuff, this, and the Blye Cox Apollo books are easily the best.

Also, I'll add that apparently Charles Lindbergh spoke with Jim Lovell at the 11 launch and also expressed that, in his mind, the most significant leap was also 8, which I have sympathy for. There's something about being on that spacecraft for the first TLI, having nothing but the math to trust, that is deeply exhilerating, incredibly scary, and awe-inspiring.

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#104

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

dylan604 wrote: post #16
jebarker wrote: post #10

I think there are now only eight men still alive that flew to the moon and only four that walked on it. I hope there'll be some still alive to see the next person walk on the moon.

I'm nowhere near the age of an Apollo astronaut, and I hope I'm alive to see the next person on the moon.

If Artemis goes on as planned, hopefully you'll just have to hold on at least a few more years!

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#105

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

scj wrote: post #18

During the Apollo 1 investigation, he said something that suck with me when thinking of begrudging users who are willing to look past faults for utility: "There's no question that it was a coffin, and I'd have flown it gladly."

This reminded me too of Jim Lovell's reaction when they switched the Apollo 8 plan at "the last minute" to actually be the first TLI mission. Something about the way he tells it, and just the sheer (and apparently extremely genuine) reaction of awe, wonder, excitement, mixed with a seeming complete lack of worry, concern, self-preservation instinct, just kinda signals to me those guys were just built different.

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#106

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

hcrisp wrote: post #60
dkislyuk wrote: post #15

Rocket Men by Robert Kurson tells the Apollo 8 story in a captivating manner. Some of the passages are quite dramatic but it's justified given the litany of firsts accomplished by the mission.

I read it recently. I came away amused by Borman being such a no-nonsense person. He would warn the other guys on his crew if they joked too much or goofed off. He was a straight shooter, and didn't mind telling NASA when something wasn't being done right. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon he considered the job done. He thought they had beaten the Russians to the moon and why would anybody want to go back? He was dev…

Seems to go hand-in-hand too with his later recounting that he had no further interest to go back to the moon to walk on it; he was there to "beat the Russians" and loved his family too much to risk his life to "go pick up some rocks." From all accounts, he was clearly an extremely brilliant man with a sense of purpose, skill, and courage aplenty to go along with it. Glad the US put his talents to good use!

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#107

Post by cobbaut »

bryananderson wrote: post #86

Michael Collins—who was bumped from Apollo 8 due to a medical issue and of course ended up flying Apollo 11 instead—became increasingly convinced with time that it was Apollo 8, more so than 11, that represented the true landmark in human history. Apollo 11 was when we first arrived somewhere new, yes, but it was Apollo 8 when we first dared to venture out into the dark. For the first time we surrendered the ability…

Collins’ autobiography Carrying the Fire is also an excellent book to get a feel of the 1960ies. Like four (out of twelve?) people dying during training because, well it's a really hard training. In 2023 if so much as one person gets an injury then the project is suspended for years until a committee decides it is safe again.

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#108

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

TMWNN wrote: post #9

Two interesting facts about Apollo 8 beyond the whole first-flight-to-the-moon thing: * Two of its three astronauts became CEOs of Fortune 500 companies: Borman at Eastern Airlines, and William Anders at General Dynamics. (The third, Jim Lovell, stayed with NASA and survived the Apollo 13 explosion.) * Borman (command pilot) and Lovell (pilot) had flown together on Gemini. Borman again commanded Apollo 8, despite Lov…

...And Jim got into the Telecommunications business before all the consolidation stuff and made himself a significant sum of money along with it!

Re: Apollo astronaut Frank Borman has died

#110

Post by samizdis »

billforsternz wrote: post #49

Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger is one of my favourite books. It was basically extraordinary that NASA gambled so extravagantly, combining multiple steps in the planned sequence into one mega mission in order to get back on schedule after the disastrous fire and meet Kennedy's aspirational goal. Chances of success? (surviving the mission), maybe 50%. Thinking about Frank Borman being alive and well and still flying his pl…

Jeffrey Kluger also wrote Lost Moon, about Apollo 13, in collaboration with Jim Lovell. That is also an excellent read.
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