Frank inspects the Gemini 7 spacecraft.

Crew of Gemini 6A & 7

Jim Lovell (7), Frank Borman (7), Tom Stafford (6A), Wally Schirra (6A)

Alan Shepard converses with Frank moments before heading to the launchpad for his Gemini flight.

Apollo 1 Crew – Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee

Apollo 1 command module being inspected after the fire that claimed the lives of the crew.

Prime Crew (Standing)

Borman, Lovell, and Anders

Backup Crew

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Fred Haise

The note Frank wrote to Susan and the boys the night before Apollo 8 departed for the Moon.

Courtesy of the Borman family

The first humans to fly aboard the mighty Saturn V – Borman, Lovell and Anders.

The first humans to leave Earth and travel to the Moon on Apollo 8 (left to right): command module pilot Jim Lovell, lunar module pilot Bill Anders, and commander Frank Borman.

Courtesy of NASA

Jim Lovell looks on as a technician helps Frank get suited up.

Frank ‘Squarehead’ Borman inside the custom made $45,000 helmet NASA had made to fit his extraordinary large head.

The Saturn V carrying Apollo 8 lifts off at 7:51 am EST December 21, 1968

Frank in the command module of Apollo 8 en-route to the moon.

The color photo of Earth taken by a human from the Moon during the third orbit of Apollo 8, by Bill Anders, December 24, 1968.

Courtesy of NASA

Happy Apollo 8 crew aboard the USS Wasp after returning from the moon.

After one of the most turbulent years in American history the Apollo 8 crew are heralded as “the men who saved 1968.”