Astronaut Frank Borman, commander of the first Apollo mission to the moon, has died at age 95

Frank Borman, Apollo 8 commander and Eastern Airlines CEO, dies at 95. He was a true American hero, remembered for his lifelong love of aviation and exploration, and his iconic Christmas Eve broadcast from the moon. He was also a fighter pilot, test pilot, and instructor at West Point.

Astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded Apollo 8's historic Christmas 1968 flight that circled the moon 10 times and paved the way for the lunar landing the next year, has died. He was 95.

Borman died Tuesday in Billings, Montana, according to NASA.

Borman also led troubled Eastern Airlines in the 1970s and early '80s after leaving the astronaut corps.

But he was best known for his NASA duties. He and his crew, James Lovell and William Anders, were the first Apollo mission to fly to the moon — and to see Earth as a distant sphere in space.

“Today we remember one of NASA’s best. Astronaut Frank Borman was a true American hero,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement on November 9. "His lifelong love for aviation and exploration was only surpassed by his love for his wife Susan.”

Launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Dec. 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 trio spent three days traveling to the moon, and slipped into lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. After they circled 10 times on Dec. 24-25, they headed home on Dec. 27.

On Christmas Eve, the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis in a live telecast from the orbiter: "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."