Former U.S. astronaut Frank Borman, who made history by leading the first manned mission to orbit the moon and later led Eastern Airlines as president through dire economic turmoil, has died at the age of 95, NASA said on Thursday, citing Reuters.

Bormann, who spent nearly 20 days in space during two trips in the 1960s, died Tuesday in Billings, Montana, NASA said in a statement on its website.

Born in Gary, Indiana, on March 14, 1928, he was the oldest American astronaut; that scepter now passes to Jim Lovell, also 95, but 11 days younger.

Borman grew up fascinated by airplanes, and while a student in Arizona, he took piloting lessons to pay for newspaper delivery.

He became an Air Force fighter pilot after graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1950.

Like most of his fellow astronauts, he trained as a test pilot before being selected to join NASA’s second astronaut program in 1962. This experience was very important, he noted in his autobiography.

“We were veteran pilots before we became rookie astronauts, and that made a difference,” he said.

Apollo 8 – the first lunar orbital mission

His first space flight was on Gemini 7 in 1965, leading a 14-day mission that included a rendezvous with another Gemini spacecraft.

Three years later, he was in command of Apollo 8—the first lunar orbiter—and flew around the moon 10 times with his two crew members during a mission that spanned Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The mission resulted in a stunning and unprecedented photograph taken by Bormann’s crewmate William Anders that became known as “Earth Sunrise” – the blue-white Earth seen as a partial sphere rising above the surface each month.

“I did NOT want to become a dancing bear” / Advisor at Eastern Airlines

In 1970, Bormann retired from NASA and the BBC and became a consultant at Eastern Airlines. In 1975, he became the chairman of the airline, and a year later he was appointed chairman.

“I didn’t want to spend my whole life relying on the publicity I got from NASA and become a dancing bear,” he once said of the career change. “I knew (Eastern) had some struggles and I thought I could contribute.”

One of his first acts was the first-ever wage freeze in a traditionally high-paying industry, but he softened the measure by offering workers profit-sharing.

In 1984, Eastern posted a loss of $380 million over five years, and Bormann was criticized for continuing an expensive fleet modernization program.

The return to profitability was unimpressive, with Eastern earning $6.3 million in 1985, and a year later its financial problems forced Bormann out of the company. Eastern agreed to buy Texas Air Corp, a smaller company that has become the nation’s largest airline holding company.

In 1986, Bormann announced his retirement, saying he would move to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he would help run his son’s car dealership, work on a book, and be closer to his family.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission, Bormann discussed the US space program with Politico, saying that he supports the idea of ​​a mission to Mars, but that it is “absurd” to try to colonize it.

Borman and his wife Susan had two sons.