Frank Bowman didn’t care about the moon.
legendary NASA An astronaut who was a key member of the agency’s Apollo program said late in life that he didn’t join the program for the grand scheme of things. space expedition. Although ambitious, he had one unique desire. It’s about proving yourself to be a unique national jewel.
“I wanted to join the American adventure of defeating the Soviet Union. But that was the only thing that motivated me: defeating the damn Russians.” Bowman said on a radio show this american life In 2018.
In fact, the unassuming Bowman commanded Apollo 8, the first manned trip around the moon, in 1968. This was an important step in the U.S. effort to land astronauts on the chalk moon’s surface for the first time. The astronauts landed the following summer. It was an epic victory in the Cold War.
And it turns out Bowman was serious. In 1969 he helped NASA land on the moon and win the first space race (now a new moon race), and Bowman quickly resigned. Even though he was almost certainly in charge of subsequent plans for the moon.
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Borman’s frank candor prompted journalist David Kestenbaum to ask him whether he was “the best person to have been to the moon or the worst person to explain what it was like.”
“I’m probably the worst,” Bowman replied.
NASA announced that Bowman passed away on November 7, 2023 in Billings, Montana. He was 95 years old. Even now that he is 90 years old, piloted a historic military aircraft.
Apollo 8 crew members training at the flight acceleration facility. Mr. Bowman is on the right.
Credit: NASA
Bowman long seemed destined for greatness in spaceflight. “Frank began his career as an officer in the United States Air Force. His love of flying proved essential through his roles as a fighter pilot, operational pilot, test pilot, and assistant professor,” NASA said. Secretary Bill Nelson said in a statement.. “Due to his outstanding experience and expertise, he was selected by NASA as the second group of astronauts.”
However, as the years passed and I grew up, legend of apollo Still, this man would never accept an invitation to return to the moon and lead an expedition to its surface. He could have driven around extraterrestrial worlds. He would get attention all over the world and be on the cover of magazines.
“I wouldn’t have accepted the risk involved in going out and picking up stones. It doesn’t mean that much to me,” Bowman said.
But his journey around the moon meant the world to Earth’s inhabitants. The Apollo 8 crew, accompanied by James Lovell and William A. Anders, captured the legendary “Earthrise” photo while orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968. (The actual photo was taken by Anders.) Before Anders pointed the camera, Bowman quipped.“That’s not in the plan, so please don’t do it.”
![symbolic "earthrise" Photo taken by NASA's Apollo 8 crew.](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/06PWGPCfw8Lp2GOY5OeM46S/images-2.fill.size_2000x1917.v1699638231.png)
Iconic “Earthrise” photo taken by NASA’s Apollo 8 crew.
Credit: NASA
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The moon may have bored Bowman, but it was certainly far from it earth marble, and the people who lived there impressed him. when he returned from the moon, A steep descent of 24,696 miles per hour After punching through Earth’s atmosphere and plummeting into the ocean before the Navy could pull him out of the ocean in a helicopter, he went out of his way to return home and tell his family about one of the most brazen attempts anyone ever made, even today. I didn’t want to talk.
“It was a wonderful time of reunion and emotion. I couldn’t even imagine telling them what the moon looked like,” Bowman said.
Thank you, Frank, for your candor, originality, and of course the win.