Navy Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Thomas Kenneth (Ken) Mattingly II, who helped the crew of Apollo 13 recover from the in-capsule explosion, fix their oxygen scrubber, and maintain the ship's power during reentry, passed away in Arlington, Virginia on October 31, 2023. He was 87 years old. His exploits were brought to the attention of a new generation when he was portrayed by Gary Sinise in the 1995 blockbuster Apollo 13. Funeral arrangements are still underway, but I believe he will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
A few days after Mattingly's passing, Air Force Colonel Frank Frederick Borman II, who was one of the first three people to see the far side of the moon when he commanded the Apollo 8 mission, passed away in Billings, Montana on November 7, 2023. He was 95 years old. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former NASA astronaut.
When the band Led Zeppelin released its sophomore album, Led Zeppelin II, in 1969, Borman's face was cropped into the cover. He standing in the back row, second from the right, with the hat and no beard. The album was released just a few months after Apollo 11 landed on the moon and the artist thought that he was using an image of Neil Armstrong... oops!
Borman was known to sign Led Zeppelin II album covers. The example above says: "Not Neil Armstrong! Frank Borman Apollo 8 CDR [commander]."
When Led Zeppelin released its sixth studio album Physical Graffiti in 1975, another effort was made to put Neil Armstrong on the cover, and this one also failed. In the top left window there is photo of an astronaut on the moon, but the photo isn't of Neil Armstrong, it was taken by Neil Armstrong. The photo is of astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
Keeping with the space theme, Led Zeppelin's 1999 album Early Days: The Best of Led Zeppelin, Volume One was a riff on the official photograph of the Apollo 14 crew.
Apollo 14 was made up of Alan Shepard, Stu Roosa, and Ed Mitchell
